An Unexpected Love
by Charlie-the-Spider
Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: This is my first fanfiction guys, I'm really nervous about it, I originally wanted it to be M rated but am having second thoughts, please review to let me know what you think and if you think I should change the rating, because it really does contain certain things. I hope you enjoy!  
><em><br>_Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.**

****_I don't own the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own the whereabouts, names of items and people, and some of the OC's that might show up every now and then, this story is inspired by a movie, can you figure it __out?_****

**An unexpected savior(Or something like that)**

Nico gasped as his eyes shot open and he started to raise himself, but felt a solid push that kept him in place. He couldn't possibly figure out where he was because: one, he didn't remember anything that's happened since morning –if it was _still_ morning- and two, it was dark around him and the cold seeped through his bones; he could feel the cold of the stone slab he was tied to, forced into an uncomfortable position with his arms outstretched and tied to either sides of him and his legs in the same manner, it made him feel vulnerable, exposed. He now noticed the soreness in his spine and he figured he must have been in that position for a long time. He hoped this wasn't another test by Captain Chiron because if it _was_, then he's going to kick the crap out of him. Okay, no, he wasn't that brave, but he'd still be very pissed. The captain and the crew have done this to him before. Three times if you don't count the test he had to pass in order to join the crew. They always found it amusing, to mock the new kid on board, just because he had nowhere to go to. Truth be told, he _did_ have somewhere to go to: His father's and stepmother's house, but he'd sooner die than go to that house; they would only boss him around and lock him in his room claiming that he's insane only because he sometimes talks to himself. Nico rolled his eyes; these two always tended to amuse him with their ridiculous observations. Nico closed his eyes tight to clear his mind from the images of his father's blank face and his stepmother's snarling one. Back on track, Nico worked with a crew on a ship, but it wasn't any ship.. it was a flying ship. Laugh all you want, but it won't change anything. He worked on a flying ship named the Dragon Star that soars through outer space looking for its enemy, the Crystal Moon. Yea it's a nice, pretty, innocent name, but that's because a woman made and owned it first, a long, long time ago. Now its owner is Captain Luke of the Iron Fist. Yea, lame, uncreative name, but a true one. Captain Luke lost his hand while he was sparring with Captain Chiron, and instead of attaching a hook or something, he put an iron fist. An iron fist that could poke a fist-sized hole into a grown man's chest, and no this isn't exaggerated, Nico had witnessed it with his own eyes. Speaking of his eyes, they were starting to flutter shut, despite his struggles to keep them open, and slowly, but surely, fell into a deep sleep…

Nico's eyes shot open again as he heard a loud 'bang', then a few loud footsteps, and a 'boom'. It was the sound of a gate, opening and closing, or so Nico thought. The footsteps started again and he started to struggle against his bonds, his heart racing, why though? He had no idea. The footsteps only got louder and louder, which meant that whoever was approaching was actually approaching _him_ in particular, but there wasn't much Nico could do about it, he was restrained from moving in any sort of way, so he just pulled uselessly on the bonds, blood sliding down his previously smooth skin at the same pace of his tears, and he silently prayed to god –which he hadn't done since his mother died of some mysterious fatal disease- that he doesn't get killed, or if he did, he'd at least get to see the face of his killer before he moves on to the world beyond.

The door to his… prison –you may call it- finally opened with a loud screech as metal brushed on metal and Nico got the urge to mute all the world by putting his fingers in his ears, but of course, he couldn't, and so he gritted his teeth and clawed at the stone till the door shut close again. A hand gripped his bloody one –bloody because he happened to break his nails and dig them into his skin while clawing into the stone- and he screamed and struggled with great force to break free, but the hand gripped him tighter and clamped a hand on his mouth. "Shh! Calm down! I won't hurt you but they will if you don't stop- OW!" the hand moved away from his mouth and its owner cursed something Nico missed as he started to scream and the hand again clamped over his mouth, but this time it was gloved so no matter how much he bit it didn't get hurt. "Please, stop; firstly because you're acting childish, secondly because this is fine leather, it'll never tear, and thirdly because if you don't shut up we'll both be killed considering I'm feeding you against the clear orders Captain gave me. So PLEASE?" Nico stopped biting and decided to glare at the darkness surrounding him instead. The person sighed, "THANK YOU! Now let's light this place up a little, shall we?" he heard the footsteps move away a little and then in a blinding flash the lights went on, and Nico had to squint to adjust to the brightness, then the person moved into Nico's field of vision and, as it focused, Nico had to admit that the hard yet kind face, sparkling, determined blue eyes, and pink thin lips he saw made his heart skip a beat or two and his eyes stare without blinking, but the handsome man didn't seem to notice that and only grinned, "Hi! I'm Percy Jackson, a crew member on the Crystal Moon and you're Nico di Angelo , the new prisoner on this ship, and I'll be taking care of you till I manage to free you from your misery, or till you die. On that happy note, let's get you something to fill that empty stomach, shall we?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Here's chapter two! Was supposed to upload it yesterday but got a little busy and got sick :S Anyway, this is _filled_ with Nico's thoughts, most of the chapters in his prison cell are full of those, sorry, but he's sitting all alone I can't make him talk to walls now can I? *I can but whatever!* I decided to keep this T rated, but it's a strong T alright? So those of you who aren't so up to that.. let me know and I'll figure something out okay? :) I hope you like this, please review! *I need some encouragement too! 'puppy eyes'***

**Summary: **Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.****

********_I don't own the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own the whereabouts, names of items and people, and some of the OC's that might show up every now and then, this story is inspired by a movie, can you figure it__out?_********

**Unexpected Willpower (or just a great ability at being foolish)**

As the gate swung shut again Nico started sensing an overwhelming feeling of loneliness and despair clogging his mind, he tried to shrug it off but it kept on creeping back into his mind ever so slowly, and he growled in the open silence as frustration covered the despair; who had that man been and what kind of enchantment had he worked on Nico? Nico imagined his face looking down at him with that seducing smirk- hold it! Seductive smirk- what? Nico did _not_ just call it a seductive smirk! It was just a small, sexy- okay, stop it, Nico couldn't afford falling for the man! They just met! Besides the man was an enemy, Nico never got attached to enemies. Nico mentally nodded as if to reconfirm that and sighed heavily, what the hell was going on? He never acted like this! He never fell for _anybody_, wait… no, he didn't fall for the man, he only felt a little attracted to him and his beautiful features… It was normal for Nico to feel like that; he was turning seventeen in a week, surely his sexual instinct would kick in! The problem was that there was still the possibility that this was a test made by Captain Chiron and if it really was one, he'd be screwed; Nico never told anybody about his sexual preferences, how he preferred mating with other handsome, strong men than to mate with beautiful young ladies because frankly, he didn't find those ladies attractive at all. He was what people would call homosexual, and he was scared as hell about revealing that because if a man loved other men in his community they were considered weaker than the weakest woman, and so they never got the respect they deserved as humans, hell they didn't get _any_ respect, not even the respect a pig is given before it is slaughtered. Nico was sure that if his sexuality was ever to be discovered he would be kicked off The Dragon Star and then hanged in the middle of the golden fields of his village, Atra. A shiver ran down Nico's spine as he imagined that, a shiver that refused to stop buzzing at the small of his back as his senses began to cloud over and he found himself in a trance-like sleep –unlike the one previous- and images of Percy Jackson's beautiful face and Nico's limp body hanging in the middle of the golden fields of Atra flashed before his eyes in a dizzying, fast pace that kept his eyes moving from one side to the other.

Nico heard the gate open and close and his heart fluttered in… was that happiness? As he waited for Percy Jackson to come back in, feed and entertain him and then again leave. But.. it wasn't Percy Jackson, that he could figure out; Percy walked in a clumsy, unorganized pace while this… person, walked in a steady even _perfect_ pace and Nico's heart caught in his throat; he only knew one man who could walk so perfectly and it was his Captain, and the only other person who could _ever_ walk the same way was the only person who could fight with Captain Chiron for more than three hours and come out alive and 'mildly' injured, it was Luke of the Iron Fist. Nico's heart started beating five beats in a second as he struggled against his bonds, but then stopped; what was the point of struggling and acting like a fool if he wasn't going to break free anyway? He started breathing slowly: Inhale…Exhale…Inhale…Exhale, his heart didn't stop pounding fast, but it certainly decreased its mad pace to a pace of three beats in a second, which was a relief to Nico's blood vessels Nico was sure, but not to himself, he was still scared! He couldn't afford looking like a little, scared, weak child in front of the enemy; that would disgrace both him and Captain Chiron, he was trained to fear no pain, no loss, no death and certainly _no man_. Nico's eyes took on a more confident –but still a little shaken- look as he turned that over and over in his mind, he feared no man.. he started to slowly believe that, besides, what kind of man took so long in walking? He must be a cripple of some kind! Nico feared no man! Not even Luke of the Iron Fist- that thought was swept away as the door swung open and Nico had to hold back a whimper as he heard the man walk in, other footsteps followed but then suddenly stopped and retreated back the way they came as Luke of the Iron Fist closed the door but kept the lights out and pulled the stool Percy had used earlier to sit on while he fed Nico, and sat on it with a soft sigh, Nico's heart was about to jump out of his ribcage and into the open air, Nico knew it was, but he still didn't let his fear show, he had his eyes blinking indifferently and his breathing stable, he _knew_ on the outside it didn't show _one _bit, he was a master at hiding his feelings, but apparently Luke of the Iron Fist was a master at making masters like Nico feel like beginners, "Don't try so hard, _Nico_, I can see _right_ through your fake act, you're as scared as a puppy. It's alright, you can struggle and scream and cry, I won't think any less of you, I have seen men twice your age weep when they merely heard my voice, it's not _that_ scary is it? I myself find it very gentle and soft, what do you think, Nico?" if Nico had been planning on answering, his answer would have been him agreeing with Luke of the Iron Fist, his voice was indeed gentle, in fact, it was so gentle that every time Nico heard it he felt his need for sleep increase, his eyes flutter closed, and his heart slow its rapid pace, but his rapidly working mind never ceased to function, in fact it was sending alarm signals in a maddening way as it felt its need to keep the body's guards on, but the body was failing it, still Nico remained silent and indifferent, and a soft, melodic chuckle emitted from Luke of the Iron Fist, "The silent treatment, I see. Well let's see how _long_ this treatment of yours will last, young Nico, shall we?" and with that, the long, torturous questioning of Nico di Angelo began, every word said with the enemy's voice sounded like a lullaby of some kind, but no matter what, Nico's will never failed him, and he never let that lullaby sweep him away into his waking dreams, nor did he allow the never-ending questions of Luke of the Iron Fist to force him to speak.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: Hey! ****I don't have much to say other than I really hope you don't consider this story a failure :( I hope you enjoy this chapter! Review to let me know what to try and improve! :) Also! If you find anything that doesn't seem right please let me know, I try to write this while keeping the characters a little like themselves (Except for Nico I know he's not as shy as I make him) But sometimes I tend to change their personalities. 'XD Sorry!**

**Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.**

****_I don't own the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own the whereabouts, names of items and people, and some of the OC's that might show up every now and then, this story is inspired by a movie, can you figure it__out?_****

**Unexpected Allies(Or possible friends)**

The gate swung shut again and Nico let out a frightened whimper then started sobbing, each sob making him hate himself even more; he couldn't do this anymore! He wanted to shoot himself for his weakness, he'd been here for only a few days and already he was giving up, but that still didn't make him steady himself and hold on for a little more, he'd reached his limit before even starting, the questioning session had been the worst experience of his life, it was not just a questioning session, it contained a torture session within it, each time he'd refuse to answer, Luke of the Iron Fist would get more impatient and ask for them to torture Nico in a way or another; he wanted to know where the great treasure was, the great treasure that Captain Chiron had finally located but he'd failed to locate himself, and what agitated him more, Nico was sure, was that Captain Chiron was definitely on his way to get that treasure. Nico groaned. They must be at the other side of the globe now, there's no way Nico would ever rejoin them, that is if he ever got to escape from this awful place. His hands clenched into fists, he wanted, _truly_ wanted, to get out, but that Percy Jackson must have been some lying, heartless bastard, trying to bring Nico's hopes up only to have them crushed and smashed. Nico sobbed more at that and he truly felt like killing himself now, this wasn't him! He doesn't _cry_, he doesn't _sob_, and he certainly doesn't do either for a _man_. All his life he's never trusted a man, so why was he trusting that Jackson guy now? Nico pondered on that for a while, perhaps it was because of the desperation Nico had been feeling at the time, he had been afraid and had been hoping against hope that somebody would come and 'save' him. He grunted at that, _save _him, he had just said. When did he become such a _princess_? He didn't need anybody to save him! He was a man, a man as strong as any other, and a strong man needs no help, a strong man needs no saving, a strong man faces whatever hardships he comes across and deals with them in whatever way he finds possible without complaining. Nico's sobs quieted down to soft whimpers till those too were silenced and only his breathing was audible in the darkness. Nico knew his fear was still there, oh it was definitely still there, but for now it was like a whisper of a thought, a scrap of memory, both lost in the folds of the human's forgetful mind, it was there, and Nico sensed it, but it mattered not, not now, now he was thinking about one thing: Escape. He needed to escape and he needed to do it _now._ He couldn't afford to wait, he might spill something, and once he's told Luke of the Iron Fist _something_, there certainly was no going back. He struggled uselessly at the bonds and sighed, he was _sure_ there was _some_ flaw in the bonds, there must be _at least_ one! Nobody on earth could possibly find every flaw in the metal items and fix them! It was _definitely_ impossible, it would have taken ages for them to find them and even more ages to fix them and there would still be an error, he was sure, so why couldn't he even move a muscle under those bonds? It was definitely getting him and his body frustrated to no end. The gate creaked as it swung open and Nico froze. No way anybody could come yet! He felt tears form in his eyes, he needs more time! His breathing quickened as the gate swung shut again and he heard two voices whispering. He couldn't take it anymore, "Who-who are you? Show yourselves!" his voice had broken at the first word and he had to silently curse his own failure. Somebody grunted, "Alright, alright. Chill kid, nobody's gonna eat'cha up or something!" a woman's voice said as the lights went on and he had to moan in pain as the light struck straight at his nerve system, but he couldn't possibly turn away. Somebody shuffled forward and grasped the shackles keeping his head in place and he had to feel a little defensive, "Hey what do you think you're doing?" Nico found himself asking in a weak, raspy voice. "I'm freeing you, unless you'd prefer staying in here and having to face Captain Luke again?" Nico didn't reply. "Yeah, I thought so." the man started examining every part of the shackles carefully, "You know you won't be able to break those," Nico said blankly, "some kind of genius made them, not one flaw can be found that you could use as an advantage, so I think you should give it up and go save yourselves." The man laughed and Nico blushed softly for some reason. "No we won't give it up and go save ourselves because one, we promised Percy to make sure you escape along with us, and two, I'm the one who made those, I could easily break them. Oh and thank you for the genius comment, you make me blush." He said in a cheerful tone as the shackles popped open and Nico felt the pressure on his head leave. The man smiled in satisfaction and started with the other shackles and soon Nico was sitting up unrestrained, trying to flex his stiff muscles. "Charles come on, help him up we don't have much time left." The woman's voice said and Nico turned to look at her, seeing her for the first time, he saw a startling beauty, the kind that is so beautiful, it soon becomes scary. Like Luke's voice, something said in his mind and he shivered. She had black hair with a streak of white in the shape of a lightning bolt across it and had two electrifying, sharp blue eyes, a blue so pale it reminded Nico of the cold winds in the harsh winter season, he immediately respected her, she looked like she deserved it, what with her raised chin and confident stance. "Hold on, will you Thalz? I'm trying to inactivate those alarms so we wouldn't be shot down the moment we leave this cell." "Hey, don't call me Thalz. It's _Thalia_, is it so hard to say?" She asked with annoyance written all over her face, though there was an amused glint in her eyes. "Now that you mention it, yes in fact it is. You should try another name, Tom, maybe." She rolled her eyes, "Oh shut up." Nico kept on watching them exchange friendly insults and jokes and his curiosity got the better of him, "Who are you two?" they stopped their conversation and the man smiled at him, "I'm Charles Beckendorf, a friend of Percy's, and that's Thalz." "Thalia, it's Thalia. Thalia Grace, alright? Not _Thalz_, Thalia. Call me _Thalz_ even once, and you're dead, kid." She gave him a stern look. "My name is not _kid_, my name is Nico, Nico di Angelo, call me kid again and-" "and what, kid? You're going to kick me with that stiff leg of yours?" Nico rolled his eyes, "Whatever, _Thalz_." He smirked and she grinned, "Alright, alright, I won't call you kid anymore, _Nico_." He smiled at her in satisfaction, "Thank you, Thalia." She smiled back approvingly as Beckendorf stood, "Alright let's go. Thalz tell Perce to meet us at the harbor." "Oh he's already there, and he says that we need to hurry up before they recognize him as one of Captain's men. Kid- Nico, can you walk?" Nico stared at her as he thought about absolutely nothing before blinking repeatedly, "Uh, I think so…?" Nico slid down to the ground, remaining on his feet for a few seconds before his knees buckled and he went tumbling to the ground, or he would have been tumbling towards it if Beckendorf hadn't held him firmly from the arm the moment Nico's knees failed, Nico had to blush. "Guess I can't…" Thalia smiled softly and Nico had to admit that she looked ten times more beautiful, but from what Nico's seen of her personality up till now, he had a feeling she wouldn't take that as a compliment and might give him a punch or two for saying it. "It's alright, you'll have your strength back soon, now we need to leave, we already collected your belongings so let's go." He and Beckendorf nodded and soon the three were silently sneaking around the ship's corridors, their footsteps barely audible but still can be heard if somebody concentrated as they reached the deck and lowered themselves into the cold ocean water and Nico wondered how they could have escaped so easily without alerting anyone, and he had to curse himself for thinking that as red alerts started going off on the ship as Beckendorf jumped last into the water. "They saw me, we need to escape, NOW!" Nico would have loved to escape, except for one little problem… "I don't know how to swim!" he screamed in panic as he remember that and starting flailing in the water. Thalia rolled her eyes and Beckendorf sighed as he held Nico close and started swimming quickly to the harbor, Thalia right behind them. "Take in a deep breath, we're going for a dive." Nico did and as they dove into the depths of the ocean, bullets in slow motion shot past them in an amazing way, then they emerged at the surface below the harbor and quickly scrambled onto it, running –stumbling- across the place and into a dark alley where a figure wearing a dark hoodie with its hat up was standing in waiting, "Took you long enough! Come on, we need to go." Percy said and turned, starting to run, Thalia, Beckendorf and lastly Nico running right behind him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: Hey guys! Here's chapter four, SO sorry about the late update, had a hard time writing it because I kept on getting interrupted a lot. This chapter is more like the beginning of it, so it doesn't contain many events, sorry about that, please stick with me, the adventures will turn up later in the story! If you have any suggestions please review! I'll let you read now. Enjoy!**

**Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.**

****_I don't own the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own the whereabouts, names of items and people, and some of the OC's that might show up every now and then._****

**Unexpected loneliness(or sudden doubt)**

"Now THAT was close!" Thalia said as she sat and loudly cracked her back bones on a rock near a big tree in the middle of the forest they stopped in to rest after the running they had to do. "You know, you shouldn't get all too comfortable, we're just stopping to tend to Nico over here." Percy gestured to Nico and Thalia laughed, "Do I look like I'm getting comfortable? Better yet, if I _did_ look comfortable, how comfortable do you think I could get on a _rock_? Think Perce, or is the beautiful new addition distracting your already rotten, nonresponsive brain cells?" Thalia asked, smirking smugly as Percy rolled his eyes, Beckendorf snickered and Nico merely blushed and looked down at his bony, blood-covered hands. He remembered seeing the blood on them dry, this one was fresh and he suspected that they were still bleeding, considering the fact that they were exposed to various elements during his escape. They might get infected, he thought. "We should have brought Yew along, I don't know anything about first aid.." Percy admitted as Thalia snorted, "That's because you're an idiot, my dear friend." She got up with a loud groan and walked to where Nico was sitting, under another big tree. "I'll take care of him, you go to Beckendorf and try to figure out which way to go now." Percy nodded and went to Charles Beckendorf and soon they were both discussing things Nico didn't care for at the time; he was tired, he was hungry, he was cold, and he just wanted to lie down and sleep for the next few decades; the pain throbbing in his body was so unbearable it was almost like it had always been there, as if it were a _part_ of him, he got so _used_ to it his brain, his systems, stopped viewing it as a dangerous intruder and instead started getting to know it, starting to treat it as if it were a part of his many cells. Every cut burned and stung him painfully but he no longer cared, he just wanted it to _stop_, and at that thought, his brain decided that he has had enough and his vision started flickering until it turned into complete darkness.

"Nicoooo!" Thalia's voice sang in Nico's ear, but he simply ignored it. "_Niiiicooo_! Wakey wakey sleeping beauty!" She shook his shoulders and his hand automatically moved and slapped her, he probably would regret it later, but for now it gave him the amazing feeling we all love called: _satisfaction._ If Nico ever told you how it was, he'd tell you this: It didn't last long. Nope, didn't last long at all. As his hand moved back to rest on his chest, he felt something connect with his cheek –or more like cheekbone, since he never really had _cheeks_- and a very shocking sting spread across said cheek while his brain rattled in his skull in reaction to it, it was _definitely_ a slap. Nico opened his eyes, they were burning with hate, or so Nico imagined them as he seethed with anger. "Good, you're awake. Get up and come have some breakfast, unless you want to starve till dinner or till the _next_ breakfast." She said as she got off of him and walked away. He shook his head and sat up, groaning as pain exploded _everywhere_. Yes. _Everywhere_. Nico winced as he put his injured palm against a stone to push him up. Why hadn't those cuts and bruises hurt him earlier? _Because you were thinking about escape, you dumbass._ A voice answered his question and he mentally rolled his eyes as he stood on his feet and stretched before walking stiffly towards the smell of food. As he walked he noted that that day would not be a good day for his feet. "Thalia go wake him up again, he might have fell asleep again-" "No, I'm here." Nico cut Percy off quickly and blushed softly as Percy turned and gave him the most amazing, loving smile Nico's ever seen, not that he's seen many smiles but still, that smile made his heart flutter. "Morning sleepy head, you've slept through the whole trip to this place, missed out a lot." He said in a cheerful tone as he put an egg on the pan and heated up on the campfire. Wow, campfire. Nico hadn't seen that in a while, all the fires they saw nowadays were fires ignited within an electronic box that controlled the exact level of heat of the fire, and kept the fires controlled, making sure to turn off the moment whatever's kept on the fire is moved away. It was a great invention that helped lessen fires started in woods or houses, but it was _so_ simple! Nico didn't like it, it just took the fun and excitement out of starting those fires on your own, the amazing feeling of accomplishment that filled the first men to light a fire, gone within the folds of technology and soon forgotten and replaced with the simplicity of that machine, and so, Nico couldn't help but feel that enormous feeling of excitement shoot through his body and he _had_ to shout: "FIRE!" and run to Percy's side to stare at it with wide, curious eyes. Thalia rolled her eyes and rubbed her forehead, "Ya, kid- Nico, fire, it's been discovered for a few centuries now…" Beckendorf chuckled as Percy ruffled Nico's hair, "He's just a little surprised by seeing real campfire, I suppose it's been a long time since we've all seen one, no?" He smiled again at Nico with that _amazing_ smile and Nico blushed again and smiled back. Percy put the now edible egg in a plate of some kind and extinguished the fire. "Alright, eat quickly so we can choose where exactly to go now." They all nodded and ate quietly, each trying to force their empty stomachs to be satisfied with the not-exactly stomach-filling breakfast, knowing that it's the best they've got for now.

Percy sat down next to Nico in the small circle they made as they looked at the map Beckendorf drew on the ground. "Guys make up your minds, you wanna go to Sally's or what? We're running out of time we need to choose _now_." Thalia said as Beckendorf gave her a pointed glare, "We know that, Thalz, but Percy here is refusing to go to Sally's…" "I will _not_ put my mother in danger guys, and that's final! We're definitely being chased out and I don't want them to harm her." He said in a final tone, like this was simply out of the question. Thalia sighed and looked at Nico, "What about you, Nico? Got any hiding places?" He did, in fact, but the problem was that it was probably very far from here. "I-I do but it's probably too far and you won't like where it is anyway…" He said quietly and Thalia shrugged, "Dude, we've been to the worst of places, I mean unless it's Atra it's all fine by us." Nico stayed silent, Atra was his village and it wasn't from the best villages out there, in fact, it was probably the worst; its streets were the dirtiest you could ever find, it was still pretty old so technology in it wasn't exactly welcome since they found technology some kind of disease that spreads among people and corrupts young minds, but worst of all was the fact that its people were probably the cruelest humans on earth, they didn't compliment anybody, they never pointed out your beautiful aspects and instead pointed out your flaws, they never e_ver_ smiled and worst of all, they never welcomed outsiders, they _hated_ outsiders. They hated them so much not one outsider has stayed in that village for more than a week in about 50 years, so obviously it wasn't exactly _anybody's_ favorite. "Shit, you come from Atra?" Nico again remained silent. "How come you're all cuddly and cute? That doesn't make sense; Atrans are probably the scariest people in the whole _world_!" She said and Nico glared at her, "My mother was a good woman and she taught me my manners." Nico felt a wave of sadness wash over him as he remembered his mother… How he missed her… He shook the memories away and looked at the three, "Anyway, we can't go there and I don't have anywhere else to go so… Sorry." He gave them a weak smile and looked down. He had wanted to help s_o_ much, but he knew a village boy, an injured village boy, can't do anything other than sit and watch, or so people in his village had always told him. He looked back up and wondered what in the world he was doing with three obvious warriors… Did he belong here…? He shook those thoughts away and looked at Beckendorf who looked apologetically at Percy, "Sorry man… She's our only option for now." Percy stared ahead a little then sighed and nodded, he knew they didn't have the luxury of choosing a place that kept _everyone_ safe, but he was just hoping that he could protect his mother. He got up and gave them his usual smile. "Alright then, what are we waiting for? Let's go." Beckendorf and Thalia nodded and Beckendorf stood up first, slapping Percy's back like guys always do while Thalia tied her army boots tightly before getting up as well and joining her friends. Nico got up last, watching their backs as they walked side by side while laughing like the best of friends, and suddenly a feeling of loneliness filled him up as he followed right behind, and he starting doubting whether he belonged with them or not.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: Hey guys! Here's chapter 5! Sorry for the kinda long wait, got busy with other stuff and all. I decided to write differently in this one, since people keep on telling me my paragraphs are too big and I AGREE (some might think this style of writing is wrong, I don't like it very much but it's better than having all my paragraphs a bit too long). And, to reply to There'sNoAgeLimitToCreativity, sorry about that, I've just always imagined Percy like that, hope nobody else minds the fact that sometimes I may change their appearances, I just write the way I imagine them. Also, I've decided to give up on trying to name each chapter as something unexpected, some of those will appear later, but don't expect all chapters to be named liked that. Anyway, please review to tell me what you think, I'll update the next chapter soon enough. :) Enjoy!  
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**Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.**

****_I don't own the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own the whereabouts, names of items and people, and some of the OC's that might show up every now and then._****

**Meeting the Family (Or Bacon & Eggs)**

"How _stupid_ could anybody be to forget where their house is?" Thalia grumbled as Percy led them from one dead-end to another. They'd been looking for his house in the city for two full hours without any success in finding it, in fact, Nico thought they only succeeded in turning in circles for about fifty times and getting _more_ lost.

"I-I haven't forgotten where it is, alright? Just give me some time and I'll remember it, I swear." Percy promised as he led them to yet _another_ dead-end.

"We _have_ given you time, Perce. We've given you two _hours_." Beckendorf said as he sighed and leaned back on the wall, taking out a waterskin and throwing his head back as he lifted it above his open mouth, expecting water to come flowing down into his dry throat, instead, one droplet fell out and into his mouth. He sighed, "We're out of water." He said as he put it back into his shoulder pack.  
>"Noooooooooo!" Thalia exclaimed as she snatched the waterskin and examined its inside to check for any detectable liquid hiding in any corner of it, before sliding down the wall and dramatically cry, "We're done for! We can't go on without water!" She started hitting the back of her head on the wall, repeating the fact that they'll die without water.<p>

"Oh shut your mouth and stand up, Thalz. We're almost there." Percy said as he kicked her thigh and turned in a circle, examining the houses.

"Oh, so you remember where your house is, now? Or are you going to lead us to another dead-end?" Thalia asked mockingly as she stood on her feet, brushing dirt off of her already-dirty pants. Percy rolled his eyes at her and started walking back through the way that led them to that dead-end and into the main street, where several tents were set up under the houses to sell a variety of things, from accessories, to herbs, to strips of fabric, and many other things. Nico looked around for the millionth time, you'd think they'd stop using tents after all this time, but really, so much technology made the world return to square one, except that they have a few machines that helped them survive in said square. It was sad, Nico thought, that the human race worked so much to develop, only to return to their older habits, simply because they destroyed more than they built.

"I haven't remembered where it is, but I won't lead you to another dead-end. I…I remember how it looks like, okay? Just… Look for a house with a small balcony, it has toy-fish hanged around the ceiling and it has a stable with a black horse looking out of it…" He frowned as he tried to remember more but shook his head when he failed to remember anything of significance.

"Oh gee, thanks for the details, Perce. Now we'll find it in no time." Thalia said sarcastically as Percy continued on walking around the long street.

"OK Thalz, you're being too mean right now. Percy was nice enough to let us stay with him and his mother. Just give him some time, he hasn't been here for a long time, it's only natural for him to forget." Beckendorf said as he flashed a grateful smile to Percy, who returned it as Thalia sighed in defeat.

"Alright I'm sorry but can't we at least ask the locals-" Thalia was cut off abruptly as Nico spoke and pointed at a house up ahead.  
>"I-is that your house, Percy?" Nico looked back at Percy who looked at the direction Nico was pointing at.<br>"Yea… Yea that's my house…" Percy broke into a grin, laughing as he pulled Nico into a tight hug, "Yea that's my house, you're a genius Nico!" He let go of a deeply blushing Nico as he started heading to the house. "Come on guys!" He yelled and both Thalia and Beckendorf broke into wide grins.

"Good job Neeks!" Beckendorf said as he walked past him, patting his back approvingly.  
>"You're a life savior." Thalia continued as she ruffled Nico's hair and followed the two men.<br>"I… was just trying to help…" Nico mumbled as he looked at their moving forms. He had actually helped! He couldn't be happier! Nico allowed himself a proud smile as he started walking to follow.  
>"Wait up!" He shouted as he picked up speed, trying to catch up as they turned and laughed, motioning to him to hurry up. Nico grinned and ran even faster. Suddenly he didn't feel all that lonely.<p>

* * *

><p>A woman appeared as the door swung open after Percy rang the bell. She had straight chocolate brown hair and blue eyes that twinkled with warmth. The moment Nico let his eyes fall on her he immediately knew she was Percy's mother. He was sure of it; what with the kind smile and cheerful, optimistic eyes. Nico immediately liked her. As the four stood there smiling and looking awkward the woman's eyes grew wide the moment they fell on Percy, who was giving her a soft smile.<br>"Hey mom. Miss me?" She stood there for a little bit then cried out with joy, immediately moving towards him.

"Oh Percy!" She cried out in his ear as she hugged him so tight, Nico thought Percy's bones might crack. "I've missed you so much! Look at you, you've gotten taller! And those muscles, I can barely wrap my arms around you! Oh you've grown so much!" She cupped his face between her hands, smiling brightly as Percy laughed softly.  
>"Yea mom, people tend to grow up as they age." He smiled and kissed her forehead, "How have you been, mom?" She smiled and hugged him again, though this time it was brief.<br>"Oh, I've been doing fine. Great, actually! Your father and uncle have decided to work close to home again, so now I'm not so alone anymore. But why are we talking about how _I've_ been? We must talk about you and your friends." She smiled at them all. "Hello Thalia, Charles. How have you been?"  
>"Great, thanks for asking. What about you, Sally?" Thalia answered quickly, not giving Beckendorf time to even breathe.<br>"I've been fine, like I told Percy just a minute ago." She nodded, then looked at Nico and her smile brightened. "And who might you be, young man? I don't believe I've seen you before."  
>"I-I'm Nico di Angelo. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mrs. Jackson." Nico said politely, with a faint blush on his cheeks.<p>

"Hello, Nico. It's a pleasure to meet you too, and please, call me Sally." She smiled warmly at him and Nico suddenly remembered his mother who used to smile like that, his eyes filling up with tears. He quickly blinked them away, looking away from Sally's kind, motherly smile. She didn't seem to notice.  
>"Come on in, dears, we were just about to have breakfast." They all followed behind, saying polite 'Thank-yous' as she led them to the kitchen, where two men sat talking while a girl with blonde hair and stormy gray eyes laughed along with a boy with dark skin and brown, curly hair.<p>

"Poseidon, Pan, Grover, Annabeth, look who's here!" Sally said as she smiled brightly and squeezed Percy's shoulder. All four looked and smiled. One of the men stood up from where he was sitting. He had short, black hair and sea-green eyes. He was tanned and muscular, and could have passed as young if the wrinkles around his eyes and lips hadn't given him away.

He came in front of Percy, smiling gently, "Hello, son. It is good to see you after such a long time." Percy smiled back and clasped his hand with the man's.  
>"Hello, father. It's good to see you too. I hope the fish haven't given you too much trouble while I was away?" The man pulled Percy into a strong, manly hug, chuckling in his ear.<br>"Not at all, except perhaps, that big fish of yours. A trouble-maker indeed." They both laughed softly as memories of fishing together passed between them before Grover jumped from his seat and pulled Percy into another strong hug.  
>"What, we let you wander off in the ocean, you go ahead and forget us, Perce?" He asked playfully and Percy smacked his head jokingly. They were obviously very close friends.<br>"Hey G-Man. I've missed you too." They both let go, grinning at each other before Percy waved and smiled at his uncle.  
>"Long time no see, uncle Pan." He said and his uncle chuckled.<br>"Long time indeed, my dear nephew, long time indeed." They both held eye contact, smiling softly, before somebody cleared their throat. Everybody turned their gaze to the blonde girl, Annabeth.  
>"No hellos for me, Seaweed brain?" asked Annabeth as she walked up to Percy, standing in front of him with a small smirk.<br>"Hey wise-girl." Percy said and they both hugged tightly, each with a wide smile on their face. Nico felt a sudden pang of jealousy in his guts, and fought off the urge to push the girl off of Percy and hug him instead, looking down at the floor silently.  
>"And these are –as you already know- Thalia Grace and Charles Beckendorf, and that's Nico di Angelo." Sally introduced and they all exchanged polite hellos.<p>

"Aunt Sally, can we eat already? I'm starving!" Grover said as his stomach grumbled.

"Oh shut up. We've been skipping two meals out of three for almost a week, _we're_ starving." Percy said as he punched his shoulder. Sally laughed and ruffled both boys' hair as she moved to the other side of the kitchen where the oven was.

"Alright, alright. Everybody take a seat. Breakfast's bacon and eggs." They all quickly sat down after they all cheered for bacon, and soon they were all eating to their hearts' content.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: Again, sorry for the late update. I've been a little busy and I haven't been able to think properly about _any_ story for a while but I now solved that. :) This one is just romantic, a little bit of fluff I guess, because, after all, the genre says Romance/Adventure, and so far it's only been an adventure, so this is where the romance starts. If you have any objections, suggestions, questions, review to let me know. What else... Nope I think that that's it. XD Enjoy! Hope you don't hate it too much. :/ Let me know whether you do or don't anyway. :P**

**Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.**

****_I don't own the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own the whereabouts, names of items and people, and some of the OC's that might show up every now and then._****

**An Unexpected Confession (Or an eventful night)**

That night, right after Nico finished eating dinner, he'd went to the bathtub to clean himself, and although he knew it was rude to use up too much water and rude to stay inside for too long, he just couldn't bring himself to finish the amazing bath and step out of the heavenly warm water, so he ended up spending nearly two hours doing nothing but enjoying the feel of all of it, but after his eyes started fluttering shut, he knew it was time to get out of the calming water and into the warm bed that was prepared for him.

Getting reluctantly out of the bathtub and letting it getting drained of water till it's empty and dry, Nico walks across the bathroom's floor, droplets of water dripping from his now clean and refreshed body as he takes a fluffy towel and wraps it around his thin waist. He turns to look in the foggy mirror, wiping the fog off with a swipe of a hand, then frowns deeply; although the bath had definitely left him squeaky clean, he couldn't help but notice how thin and tired his face looked, with his cheekbones protruding at sharp angles. Neither could he ignore the obvious bags under his eyes, colored _purple_. Nico was sure he slept during the journey, but apparently it hadn't been enough. He looked down at his body, unwrapping the towel off his waist. He was _thin_. That's the only thing that he found could possibly describe him. Thin. So thin he could see the sharp angles of his bones. So thin he could count his ribs. He just didn't like it.

Nico found himself wrapping that towel again as quickly as possible, putting on slippers, and quickly getting out of the bathroom. Suddenly he felt upset. It soon wore off as he got dressed and hand combed his hair, putting on warm socks and walking out of the room, heading to the balcony. As he was about to step into it, he froze completely.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing, he just couldn't. The scene in front of him made his stomach drop, made it feel like lead. Right in front of his eyes, illuminated by the clear, crystal moon, stood Percy and Annabeth. Kissing. It all happened in a few seconds, but to Nico it felt like time slowed down, everything but him slowing to a near stop as they kissed softly, breaking away for air, and as they did, Percy looked in his direction and cried something that might have been his name, but Nico didn't hear it, he didn't hear anything but the sound of his shattering heart, oozing the blood that insured his survival, as he turned and ran inside, entering his room, and closing then locking the door behind him.

Nico sniffled. He had stopped crying a long time ago, but the ache in his heart left him weak, laying down on the warm bed, hugging a pillow and burying his face in it every once in a while to scream in frustration. He knew that it was both childish and senseless of him to be crying over something like Percy kissing Annabeth, why would he be crying anyway? After all, Percy was free to kiss and love anybody he wants, and it wasn't like he and Nico shared any sort of relationship other than friendship, so why was Nico feeling like this was the biggest betrayal that had ever happened to him? Why did every beat of his broken heart feel like a stab in the chest that seemed to send pain shooting through all his systems? Nico knew why: He was in love with Percy.

Nico punched the pillow again and again as he let that truth sink in. He was in love with Percy. How it happened? _When_ it happened? Nico had no idea, but he knew that it was the stupidest idea whatever part of his body controlled love –his heart, maybe- had ever come up with. Percy would never fall for someone like Nico. Skinny, pale, shy Nico. Nico thought even he would never fall in love with someone like himself. He was pathetic.

As his eyes began drooping, his sight flickering between the real world and the world projected in his dreams, a sound broke between those two worlds, slicing between them, separating them again as Nico's consciousness returned, and he recognized the jarring sounds as continuous knocks on his door, breaking briefly ever once in a while for the sound of the jiggling handle to be heard, and for Percy's voice to call out.

"Nico? Nico please open up!" More jiggling of the handle followed. Nico didn't blink an eye.

"Nico! Nico please! A-are you okay? Nico please let me in, please!" The sound of Percy's voice was becoming so pleading it was unbearable, so Nico had to eventually react.

Unlocking the door as slowly as possible, Nico expected to see Percy with a confused expression and expected being assaulted with questions. Instead, he still got a confused Percy, but he also got attacked by the warmest, tightest, hug he'd ever had for a very long time. He was frozen, surprised, as Percy had his arms wrapped around his thin body. But slowly, Nico hugged back as his eyes watered, and he ducked his head into Percy's neck to stop the tears from falling.

"I'm so sorry, Nico… I'm so sorry… I-I didn't expect her to ever do something like that. I-I don't even know why she did it, she knew I like you," he gives Nico a light squeeze, "I'm so sorry…" Nico didn't respond. He couldn't, even if he wanted to; Percy just said he liked him. _Him!_ How was that even possible? Annabeth was beautiful and smart and everything Nico wasn't, so why? How?

Percy let go and cupped Nico's face with both of his hands, raising his head so Nico's tear-filled eyes would meet his own apologetic ones. He frowns, "Why… why are you crying? Did I say something- mmf!" Percy's question was cut off as Nico moved. He moved without thinking, he let his body do the work, and before he knew it, he had his lips smashed against Percy's soft ones, pressed so hard, as his eyes widened and he broke off quickly, a blush finding its way on his pale face.

"S-sorry." He said as he looked down, not looking at Percy's reaction, but then he looks back up, finding a surprised expression written all over his face. He immediately felt like an idiot. "Gosh, I'm so sorry! I'm such an idiot, I shouldn't have I'm so-" It was Nico's turn to be cut off as his lips were attacked, and he found himself being kissed by Percy's lips, and this time, instead of stopping the kiss, he found himself wrapping his arms around Percy's neck as he pushed his lips more forcefully, guessing this was how you deepen a kiss since he had never kissed before. This was his first kiss! Nico gasped as he realized that, and soon after he did, he found out how wrong he was about deepening a kiss.

_This feels so good!_ Was all Nico could think as he found himself pushed on the bed, Percy pressed against him as they made out. Heh. Now he got why people liked it so much, it was the most amazing thing he'd ever experienced. What with Percy's experienced tongue rubbing against his and exploring his mouth, it was simply indescribable, amazing. Still, Nico wanted it to stay the most amazing for a while, so he made Percy stop before they reached the point of no return.

"I-I'm not ready yet." Nico said as Percy's eyes took on a disappointed quality, before nodding and rolling to lay next to Nico on his bed. They stayed quiet or a while, hands held firmly as Nico and Percy caught their breath.  
>"W-why?" Percy asked Nico, who gave him a confused look, so he continued. "Why did you run off when you saw Annabeth kissing me like that?" Nico pondered over that a little, then smiled as he reached the right answer. He looked at Percy.<br>"Because, Percy," He said as he rested his forehead on Percy's, "I think I'm in love with you." After he admitted that, he felt a lot lighter, and the grin on Percy's face made it even better.  
>"You know, Nico. I think I have a confession to make." Percy said after a long pause.<br>"Yeah? What's that?" Nico asked in a surprisingly happy tone. The night couldn't get any better.

Percy smirked and whispered, "I really like you, and I think I'm falling in love with you too." Nico laughed and hugged Percy, kissing him deeply, and he admitted he might have been a little impatient when he said the night couldn't get any better, because it just did.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note: Hey all! Here's the new chapter! Sorry for the very late update, I have on weak excuse, which is I was studying really hard for an acceptance exam that I had on Saturday and hopefully I'll be accepted. :) They'll let me know in about two weeks. But you don't care. :P The other excuse is that I've been lazy, yes, because boredom makes you lazy too. :P At least it makes me lazy... Anyway, I'm rambling, uh, this chapter isn't much, sorry, but I promise the next will -hopefully- be more enjoyable, and will have -again hopefully- lots of Nico/Percy stuff you all like. :3Anyway, go on, read, and let me know what you think!**

**Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.**

****_I don't own the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own the whereabouts, names of items and people, and some of the OC's that might show up every now and then._****

The Chase Continues (Or Eating Lots of Pancakes)

Nico woke up as he felt a cold breeze hit his body, shivering as it slipped under his light clothes. He turned around, expecting to hug Percy's hard, warm chest, but was met with a cool pillow.

He finally opened his eyes, squinting as the bright rays of sunlight stabbed them mercilessly. He groaned and sat up, stretching as he looked around, searching for Percy, but couldn't find his lover anywhere.

His lover. He pondered on that… was Percy his lover? Was _he_ Percy's lover? Were the kisses they shared the previous night the official starting of what is called a relationship? Or were they meaningless kisses, urged by high hormones and great desires? Were they filled with love and passion? Or lust and desire?

Nico pushed all the sudden doubtful questions to the back of his mind and turned to sit on the edge of the bed, pausing until his stomach protested with a loud rumble, reminding him of its need to be filled. Pushing himself off the soft bed, Nico walked to the door and opened it.  
>As Nico walked down the stairs he heard the others laugh suddenly, and he smiled although he didn't know the joke they just shared. Walking into the kitchen, he was assaulted with all kinds of greetings and he nodded in acknowledgment, replying with a simple 'Good Morning'.<p>

Percy smirked at Nico and patted the empty seat next to him, inviting Nico to sit next to him. Nico smiled softly and walked to said seat, sitting calmly.

"Morning Neeks!" Percy said, hugging him with one arm from his waist softly, briefly, the hug lasting a second before it ended. Nico guessed he hadn't told the others yet. Not that he minded, them knowing would make it a lot more awkward.

"Good morning," he replied with a smile, making eye-contact that made his stomach fill with butterflies with Percy for a few seconds, before turning to smile at Sally as she placed a plate filled with at least a dozen pancakes and a pool of syrup.

Nico smirked; there was no way he could finish the whole thing! Even in the days before his mother's death, when he used to actually eat breakfast, Nico used to eat four or five, and that was when he was _starving_. But Nico figured that it would be rude to say that he couldn't eat all this, and it would probably make sally think he doesn't like her food –although he knew she wasn't that type of woman- so he just nodded a thank you at her and dug into the pancakes.

"But you just arrived! You can't leave just yet!" Sally argued as she collected all the plates from the table. Nico was still pretty amazed at the fact that he finished his whole plate and even had a refill –although not as grand as the first. It just tasted so much like his mother's pancakes, he couldn't stop himself no matter how much his stomach threatened to burst. He guessed he just missed it, that love that was somehow mixed in with all the ingredients, that love that made you feel warm and safe, but he didn't let that get to him, because no matter how comfortable he was here, he had to leave, because nowhere was safe now.

That was what Percy was trying to explain to his mother, that they _had_ to go, not because they wanted to, but because they needed to, if they all wanted to stay hidden and safe, but she was still having none of it.

"Sally we really love it here, truly, but we need to leave! If we don't, not only _we_ would be in danger but you too! Please, _please_ understand!" Thalia reasoned, eyes mimicking that of a sad puppy, and Nico briefly wondered how she could make them so convincing.

"Darling, maybe we should let them go. Perseus and his friends have responsibilities after all, and if they need to leave we must accept it without delaying at all." Poseidon said gently, giving her a look that said to just let them be.

"I-I just don't understand why you need to leave so quickly! I mean, I do, but you arrived only yesterday, can't you stay another few days?" she said in a sad but hopeful voice. Nico felt a stab in his heart as he looked into her sad eyes, and suddenly he felt like staying a few more days wouldn't hurt him too much.

"Maybe we could-" Nico began, but Percy quickly cut him off.  
>"No. Mom, it's too dangerous, not for us, but for you. If we get caught they'll hurt you too, I don't want them to hurt you too." He said, voice gentle but eyes hard, showing her that he wished he could stay, but also showing that duty came before comfort.<p>

Sally sighed and nodded, taking the dishes to the sink and starting to wash them with a slumped, defeated back. "Alright… But promise me to come right back after all this is over, and next time you'll stay much longer?" She turned to look at Percy smiled and stood up, kissing her cheek.

"Next time we'll stay for a whole month, right guys?" Percy asked, and although Nico doubted there was a next time, he nodded and assured Sally that a month would be the _least_ period possible, which made her smile, satisfied but still saddened.

"Alright then, you should all go and prepare yourselves, change those silly pajamas and get into some proper clothes for travel." Sally said kindly.  
>"Aw! But I exceptionally enjoy traveling in pants with race cars on them!" Percy said and they all shared a laugh before Sally sent them on their way.<p>

Nico sighed and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He was wearing some oversized pants, loose t-shirt, and a warm jacket. Sally had given him these clothes from Percy's old set. She said he used to wear those when he was 16. Apparently, even though Nico was 17, not one piece of clothing for that age fit him, so instead he always wore clothes that could fit a 15 year old or something. He simply hated it, being so tiny. Sure, he had muscles –although not that many- but he was shorter and thinner than any other guy in his crew. They sometimes told him he even had a few curves like women, but he really hoped they were joking.

He sighed. Nico truly missed being with his idiotic crew; he missed all their corny jokes and their funny ways of talking. Sure, they made fun of him a lot, and it annoyed him to no end, but Nico always felt happy and safearound them. He missed feeling that. Not the happy part, having Percy was enough to make him the happiest person on earth, but the _safe_ part, because no matter what, Nico was never safe.

It wasn't that he was important to captain Luke, he was sure he wasn't, it was just that he was Captain Luke's only chance to get to that treasure before Captain Chiron, and now this chance was running around cities and towns, trying to get away from him.

But like Nico knew he wasn't all that important, he also knew that Captain Luke would _never_ stop trying to catch him, simply to stay high and mighty in front of the people.

Sighing, Nico turned away from the mirror, grabbed his backpack –that Sally provided and insisted on taking along- and opened the door, making his way downstairs, where Sally was stuffing all kinds of food that would not go stale too quickly, and food that had necessary nutrients to keep their bodies healthy and strong in a few bags.

Nico rolled his eyes, "Mothers," he muttered to Thalia and Beckendorf, who chuckled.

"Hey, it's better to have a mother that treats you like a child than a mother that treats you like a parent," Thalia with a smirk and Nico sighed.  
>"Guess so…" He said quietly as Sally walked over to them with Percy behind her, struggling with three heavy bags of supplies and casting dark looks at his mother, making the others laugh quietly.<p>

Sally pulled each of them and kissed them on their foreheads lovingly, eyes sad and teary. "Take care of yourselves alright?"  
>"We will mom, don't you worry." Percy said as he hugged her tightly, kissing her cheek. "Love ya!" He said as he let go.<br>"I love you too. Don't cause too much trouble okay?" Sally said with a weak voice and Nico smiled and hugged her.  
>"Okay… Goodbye Sally." He said softly in her ear and let go.<br>They all hugged her once again, then quickly stepped out and started walking away in a hurry, knowing that unless they got away from the house as fast as possible, they wouldn't be able to leave at all.

As they walked, Nico fought off tears; that was the warmest time he'd spent with any family –although it wasn't that long- and he'd been truly wishing he could have stayed there, not for a few more days, but forever, but he knew that that wasn't possible, considering all the danger they could put Percy's family in.

Suddenly they all stopped, which made Nico bump into Percy.  
>"Ow! Why did we- Woah! What's wron-" Nico cried out in surprise as they pulled him into a tight alley.<br>"Shh, Beckendorf said and looked from the corner, "They're here."


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note: Hey! So sorry for the late update, been busy with exams and been busy with myself, really. I keep on feeling very depressed, disappointed and angry nowadays, so writing was somewhat hard because I kept on feeling disappointed at it. Anyway, sorry for that, I promise no more of those REALLY long delays, I read fanfictions too and I know that it sucks when an author takes really long to update a chapter, even though I think most of you don't exactly _wait_ for me to update, I'm not much you know? :) Anyway, I'll let you read the chapter in peace, reply if you want to -though it would be much appreciated- I'll see you guys later!**

**Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.**

****_I don't own the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own the whereabouts, names of items and people, and some of the OC's that might show up every now and then._****

Good Luck & Good Friends (Or Bad Swings & Broken Ankles)

At first, Nico truly didn't get what Beckendorf meant. 'They're here', who's here? 'They' could refer to so many different things but as Nico opened his mouth to ask what he meant by that, the meaning rushed to him like a great wave.

'They' referred to the Crystal Moon. They were here to get him. Suddenly his throat felt very dry, making him swallow, his Adam's apple bobbing before he chose to speak in a careful, steady voice, "Um… A-are you s-sure?" Scratch that, not such a steady voice after all.  
>Percy sneaked a peek from around the corner and turned back to Nico, nodding. "Yea, it's them, they're wearing the uniform." He sighed and started looking around with a troubled face, "We just need a way out without being seen…"<br>Nico turned to look around as well, looking up with one hand shielding his eyes from the bright sunlight, then spotted some high ladder on the wall opposite them. Pointing at it, Nico said, "What about that?"  
>Percy looked and grinned, pulling Nico into a tight hug, "You're awesome!" He whispered in his ear before walking quickly to the ladder, Thalia and Beckendorf following with Nico trailing behind with a blush but also a proud grin on his face.<p>

"Don't you think it's too high to reach? We can't jump to it." Thalia said as she attempted a jump towards the broken ladder to make her point clear.

"Well no, we can't, but maybe if we…" Beckendorf trailed off as he looked around, then went behind a set of boxes and tried carrying one, grunting, then let it fall back with a loud thud.

"Perce, come help me carry this." He gestured to Percy, and soon the two of them were putting the huge, heavy box straight under the ladder.

"Try it." They said to Thalia, who wasn't exactly the shortest –Nico was- but she was probably the most delicate –or so Nico reasoned. Moving closer, Thalia put her hands on top of the huge box and swung herself on it easily, then jumped onto the ladder and started her way upward, before swinging herself yet again onto the rooftop and flashing them a thumbs-up.

"Nico." Beckendorf said simply and gestured to Nico to climb the ladder. Nodding, Nico put his hands on top of the box and tried to 'swing' himself onto it very much like what Thalia did, but he ended up hauling himself onto it with great difficulty and almost falling over as he tried to stand on top of it, a deep, embarrassed blush painted on his cheeks as he jumped onto the ladder and climbed quickly –Nico had always been a quick climber- before hauling himself onto the rooftop very much like on the box as Thalia smirked smugly.

"It's alright kiddo, not all of us can 'swing' properly" She said while patting his head, and a flare of jealousy, anger, and humiliation lit up in Nico's chest as they turned to watch Beckendorf and Percy 'swing' themselves onto the rooftop. It seemed that Thalia was wrong, all of them knew how to swing, except for Nico.

"Whatever," He said in what you might call a careless tone, turned, and started walking on the rooftop towards another rooftop, "We need to get moving if we don't want to get caught ." He finished and found Thalia, Percy and Beckendorf crawling to both his sides.  
>"And you need to get down if you don't want to get caught moving." Thalia said while laughing a little at his foolishness and Nico got down with a fresh blush on his face. Percy tried to give him a kiss on the cheek but he ended up kissing the rooftop floor as Nico was first to jump from this rooftop to the next –thankfully good enough at jumping for Thalia not to comment.<p>

They all exchanged confused but amused looks as Nico signaled to them that the rooftop was safe and clear, and quickly they jumped onto it, one after the other.

"Alright, before we move on we need to know where we're heading, we need somewhere safe." Thalia said and they all nodded and started thinking about a place to go.

"Um… There's this guy I know, he's our ship's mechanic on ground, he could help I guess…" Nico said thoughtfully, frowning a little as he tried to remember where the guy lived exactly.  
>"What's his name? We need to know whether Captain Luke knows about him or not." Beckendorf inquired.<br>"Uh… His name's Leo…" Nico frowned more as he tried to remember his last name, "Valdez. His name's Leo Valdez… I think." He smiled sheepishly and Percy chuckled at how childish he looked that way.

"Nope, never heard of him. So where does he live?" He asked Nico and Nico bit his lower lip nervously.  
>"Uh… I-in… Atra…?" He said hesitantly, and watched Beckendorf's and Thalia's faces fall before adding quickly, "B-but it's so high up in the mountains they'll never see it b-because it's hidden pretty well, I swear!"<p>

Chuckling, Percy ruffled his hair gently, "Alright then Nico, lead the way!" He said in an almost excited tone, making Nico feel a little bit better –not that it lasted too long.

"Lead the way- No! Percy we are _not_ going to that village!" Thalia cried out and Percy sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Well do you have any better places to go?" He asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"Well no but-" She began but Percy cut her off quickly.

"But, NOTHING! We don't have much time, we go with Nico, anybody who would prefer staying and being captured can step up and say so now." Nobody did, and Nico's heart quickened its pace as he was somewhat _turned on_ –yes, actually turned on- by Percy's commanding tone.

"'Kay guys, come on let's go-" Beckendorf began but the last words hung unfinished in the air as somebody climbed onto the rooftop and also froze mid-step.

"…Selena…? What are you doing here?" Thalia asked slowly, blinking repeatedly in confusion.

"Thalia, Percy, Charlie, what the hell do you guys think you're doing, escaping the ship and running around with him?" She said angrily and pointed an accusing finger at Nico –who shrunk away in some fear and a lot of confusion.

"Selena, please-"

"No! Do you know how much trouble you've caused for _all_ of us? Captain Luke is _furious_! Why would you do this? It was always your dream to sail on that particular ship! She cut Beckendorf off quickly and thy all seemed to sigh in exasperation, though some guilt in their eyes.

"Selena, we left because we no longer felt like we belonged to that ship. Long ago, we used to love it all but that… that was before we saw Luke for who he is… We're sorry but, we're done serving on that ship, if you want to report our presence and have us captured then… then we're sorry but you're no longer our friend." Percy said quietly, his eyes sad but strong.

Many minutes of silence passed before Selena broke it with a sigh, shaking her head slowly with a small smile on her face, "I can't believe you just said that…" She trailed off, then grinned, "Of course I won't report you! Go! I'll tell them there's nobody here."

"Is-isn't that… won't that get you in trouble if somebody finds out?" Thalia asked in a concerned tone.

"Which is exactly why you guys should go on quickly before anybody comes and finds us." Selena winked and smiled brightly at them before heading to the edge of the rooftop to jump off.

As they quickly got away, Nico turned back to see Selena shouting down to the others that the rooftop was clear and jumping off the rooftop gracefully, and he was –for once- grateful that the other three had such close, loyal friends.

* * *

><p>Nico sat down with a loud sigh as the stopped for the night. Now he knew he should be helping them set up camp and he offered to, but they'd told him not to bother because he slowed the process, okay they didn't exactly say that, they'd said that he shouldn't tire his ankle –which he injured and might've even broken as he stumbled on a rock- and that they'll take care of it. Now, Nico didn't mind resting because his ankle really did hurt, like a lot, but he just hated feeling like such a... <em>burden<em>. Nico wasn't as good as any of them in fighting or planning or even _running_ –note the broken ankle- he knew that, but he thought he was good enough. Obviously _not_.

Sighing again, Nico sat there, staring into nothing as he waited for them to finish, or he thought he did, but he soon found himself jumping awake –yes jumping- with a loud yelp as Percy grabbed his ankle and examined it.

"Hmm… it's swollen up pretty bad, and this bone" Percy put his thumb on said bone gently but Nico still winced, "looks like it might be popped out of its socket… Is it hurting a lot?" Percy looked up at Nico, who nodded slowly, pain written all over his face.

"It looks broken to me," Beckendorf said as he looked over Percy's left shoulder with a small frown on his face.

"If it's broken he can't walk with us. Whoops, looks like we're gonna have to leave you behind Neeks!" Thalia said and Nico glared at her, starting to get ready to get up.

"Oh shut up, I can walk if I need to-" But as he took the first step on his injured foot he went tumbling down and fell with a loud thud, groaning as pain flared in him.

Chuckling, Percy pulled him up while Thalia and Beckendorf laughed.

"Oh man, you really do have a tendency to slip and fall a lot!" Thalia exclaimed mockingly and fist bumped with Beckendorf as they both laughed harder.

"Shut up, okay? Not all of us are all high and mighty like you, Thalz! Yea, I'm not as- as smart or strong or even as handsome as any of you but I still won't accept being treated like this! I- I never asked for your help, okay? And if you want to keep this up then thank you but I'd prefer to go on- on my own!" Nico shouted and pushed Percy away before surprisingly walking away on somewhat steady feet.

* * *

><p>"Nico? Nico! Please stop before you hurt your ankle even more?" Percy called as he followed Nico, who was walking hurriedly although his ankle was sending unbearable pain through his whole system. Then, just as he was trying to catch up, he gripped Nico's arm tightly and pulled him back to face him –though he knew he should've been a little bit gentler as Nico winced and hissed in pain.<p>

What?" He shouted angrily and as stupid, shallow and inconsiderate as it sounded, Percy thought that at that very moment, Nico's lips looked like they needed to be kissed, so he leaned in, pulling Nico closer, and captured his lips into a deep, sweet kiss.

As he felt Nico's lips open up in surprise against his, Percy took the opportunity and pushed his tongue deep and hard, making Nico's yelp turn into a moan and soon he found the two of them making out passionately with their hands groping and rubbing whatever they could, but it all ended before it got too far as Nico's ankle gave way and he fell heavily against Percy.

"Ugh… I'm so sorry…" Nico said simply as Percy carried him back to camp with a small smile on his face.

"It's alright," Percy said calmly, "Let's just get back to camp eh?" Nico nodded softly and Percy made his way back with a now unconscious Nico in his arms.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's note: *peeks from behind a chair* Hi. *dodges a slipper* sorry for the late update, I've been -no not busy- depressed and pretty tired, not that that's an excuse because depression usually helps me write more but this time it's different for some reason. Anyway, I'd just like to say thanks A LOT, for all the Story Alerts and Favorites, I didn't expect so many and although I don't get many reviews, those Alerts and Favorites make my day! *hug* You can't imagine how much I appreciate it, thanks guys. :) Anyway, uh, I hope you're not too angry at me for the late update, and I hope you actually like this because it took pretty long and it should be good -you know?- and uh, for those of you who happen to be Maximum Ride fans, I'm working on a one-shot for it, so be ready, although you might not like the pairing :P And those of you who aren't, I'll be writing a Percy Jackson one-shot once exams are over, if you want a specific pairing just comment it and I'll try to make one just for you. :) Anyway, I'll shut up and let you read now. Enjoy! :3**

**Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.**

****_I don't own the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own the whereabouts, names of items and people, and some of the OC's that might show up every now and then._****

A Flicker of Change (Or Royally Killing the Mood)

Waking up suddenly, Nico found himself surrounded by darkness and soon found himself panicking and getting out of his sleeping bag –Sally kindly provided them with those- and walking –limping- towards a blotch of light. Once there, Nico found himself loosening up, a little calmer than earlier, although he was still surrounded by the same darkness.

Sitting down on a rock, Nico massaged his ankle absently. The pain was still there, but it just lasted for so long it felt like a part of him now, plus the dull ache he felt all over his body. Coughing a little, Nico looked up at the sky that was barely showing through the thick trees and sighed, remembering when he and his mother used to lay down on the roof of their house on a warm summer night and point out star constellations. He really missed that, he missed how warm he felt in his mother's arms, missed the joy he felt as he spent time with her, missed the safety he felt as-

A twig snapped, and all of Nico's thoughts came to an abrupt stop. Then, just as quick as they stopped they started reeling, racing for possibilities. Could it be a bear? A wolf? Or -Nico gulped- it could be the Crystal Moon again, they'd found them again-

His heart practically stopped as the figure came out of the woods and stopped under the moonlight. Nico immediately jumped up and fell behind the rock, groaning as his head hit the mini rocks around it. Suddenly, Nico heard laughter, like, real loud laughter, and felt his face burn up in embarrassment. Slowly, he peeked over the rock and if he could, he would've jumped off a cliff from how embarrassed he felt; what he'd first thought was a bear or a wolf or a stalker, turned out to be –wait for it- Percy.

Nico glared at Percy and gave him the finger as Percy started to get up then fell back down, laughing harder, and slowly slid back behind the rock.

"Shut up, Jackson! Or I'll really leave this time and nothing you do will bring me back." Nico threatened and Percy's laughter didn't stop but it lessened considerable and Nico guessed that was the best he could hope for.

Suddenly he was pulled sideways and against Percy's muscular chest, smiling despite the fact that he was still pretty irritated at him, and felt Percy's gentle lips trail tiny kisses along his pale neck.

"Mm… You still mad?" Percy whispered in his ear, making him shiver –in a good way- and smile wider.

"Mm… Well I would be if my mind catches up with my body and realizes that you're trying to distract me." Nico chuckled as he turned in Percy's arms so he'd be facing him, kissing him lovingly.

"Oh… Well we'd better not let it do that." Percy murmured against Nico's lips before pressing against them, kissing him passionately, and soon they were both halfway out of their clothes, rubbing, kissing, and sucking, their obviously showing erections rubbing against each other wildly.

But right before Percy could slip Nico's pants off, Nico pushed him off quickly, getting up and running a bit before he –can you guess it?- threw up.

"Shit- are you okay?" Percy asked, alarm in his voice as he came to Nico's side, rubbing his back soothingly. Groaning, Nico threw up yet again, shivering as a cold sweat broke out on his flesh, and gestured to his shirt which Percy helped him put on immediately, before he had to throw up _again_.

After spending about fifteen minutes throwing up, Nico finally stopped, and let Percy carry him back to the rock before they both sat down and rested their backs against it, Percy hugging Nico to his chest as gently as possible.

"I'm sorry…" Nico croaked as he sat limply against Percy.

"Well I won't lie to you, it totally killed the mood, but it's not your fault," Percy smiled down at Nico and kissed his forehead, "God, Nico you're burning up." He said as he put a hand against Nico's forehead.

"I am? I feel cold…" Nico said quietly as he leaned more against Percy, trying to steal more of his warmth.

Frowning, Percy rubbed his thigh comfortingly. "Are you feeling tired? Want to go back to sleep?" Nico nodded then quickly answered, "I'm not tired but I do want to go back to sleep…" He clarified and soon found himself being tucked into his sleeping bag by Percy –who was smiling down lovingly at him, although his eyes betrayed utter concern.

"Goodnight baby." He said gently as he leaned down to kiss Nico's burning forehead.

"Night." Nico replied and before he could even count to ten he was in a deep, deep sleep.

* * *

><p>Waking up again, Nico found it was morning, and he quickly got out of his sleeping bag, rolled it up and put it in his backpack, then headed towards the distinctive smell of food on fire, finding Percy, Beckendorf and Thalia sitting around it and talking.<p>

Percy was –of course- the first to notice him, "Nico!" He said in such an overjoyed tone that it brought a grin to Nico's face, brightening it up instantly.

"Hey." He said as he sat next to Thalia, who immediately offered him a burnt marshmallow, "Uh… No thanks." He smiled at her and took a piece of break, not really hungry but knowing he needed food to keep going.

"Whatever." Thalia shrugged and the rest of the meal was spent in silence, small talk, and more silence.

As they all packed up and got ready to go, Percy walked up to Nico and hugged him from behind -making Nico jump up in alarm- and kissed the side of his neck.

"Shit- Percy you scared me!" Nico sighed and leaned back against him, a small smile playing on his lips as Percy blew on his neck, making the hairs on it stand up.

"Haha, sorry I just wanted to check up on you. How are you feeling now?" Percy asked in a worried tone as he put a hand on Nico's forehead, then took it off. "Your temperature's back to normal, do you feel okay though?"  
>Nodding, Nico assured him, "Yes, I'm <em>fine<em> Percy. You really should stop worrying, you look more bothered about it than I do."

At that, Percy blushed and smiled sheepishly, "I just don't want you to get hurt." He said, which made Nico smile brightly.  
>"I won't, I promise." He said and soon the two young men joined their companions, and left the forest behind to head to their next destination.<p>

* * *

><p>"I'm so hungry!" Thalia exclaimed for the millionth time as they made their way through a swamp.<p>

"We get it Thalz, you're hungry, we really got it the first time." Percy said a little impatiently, he too was hungry but he guessed that one person complaining about it was enough.

"I know but I'm just _so_ hun-" Thalia was quickly cut off.

"I swear to god if you say that sentence again I'm going to cut your tongue off." Nico threatened and was glad to find Thalia going quiet. He'd gotten crankier and crankier as their walk lengthened, what with his broken ankle protesting so much now he expected it to fall off at any second, or with that killer headache that he's had since their last stop –which was about four hours ago- and with all the hunger and fatigue he was feeling, he just couldn't help but explode in Thalia's face.

Many minutes passed with them trying to navigate through the swamp in silence, the occasional loud 'splash' of Nico tripping and falling in the water interrupting said silence and agitating Nico to no end.

This time it seemed that Nico had not only fallen _again_ in the grimy water but he also got his –you guessed it- injured foot stuck deep into the mud underneath, and they were all trying to pull him out, but to no avail.

"Okay- on the count of three: one, two, three-"  
>"No! Stop! Please, stop!" Nico begged as tears fell from his eyes. Each time they pulled he felt his ankle hurting more and more and now it was on fire.<p>

"I'm sorry Nico but we need to get your ankle out of there." Beckendorf said softly, his eyes looking sympathetically at Nico. Even Thalia was looking at Nico like that, did he look _that_ pitiful, he asked himself.

"I know, just- wait." Nico said as he waited for the pain to lessen, then nodded, "Okay you can now-"

"No wait. What if someone went down and tried to dig his ankle out?" Thalia suggested.

"I'll do it." Percy said almost immediately, and before anybody could argue, he sank down to where Nico's foot was stuck and soon it was free of mud, though _not_ free of pain.

Groaning as Percy put him down, Nico immediately pulled his leg back to himself, wrapping his hands around his ankle as if it would block the pain. Needless to say it didn't.

"You okay-" Thalia started but before she could say anything else, a group of people dressed in black suddenly charged into the clearing, one of them moving to grab Nico, but Percy blocked him and immediately started throwing punches at him, before they both fell into the water.

After that it was all a flurry of actions around Nico, getting kicked, punched, pulled and thrown by anyone and everyone, but after a while –that felt like two years to Nico although it really was twenty minutes- the mysterious attackers seemed to clear out, but of course not before throwing a smoke bomb after them, which got the group of travelers started on a coughing fit that lasted about five minutes.

Finally able to see, they all managed to get up and check for broken ribs and bones –thankfully there weren't- before it hit them.

"Uh- guys? Anybody see Thalia?" Nico asked and they all froze in horror as they realized it.

Thalia was _gone_.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note: Hey, new chapter :) Apologize for the long wait, I've thought a lot about how to write this particular chapter, and had a lot of exams on my hands so kept on getting interrupted in my writing. :) Anyway, I hope you forgive me for taking so long and I hope you enjoy this chapter, if you find any mistakes let me know, I edited this one quite quickly so there is a possibility. :) I love you guys! Enjoy!  
><strong>

**Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.**

****_I don't own the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own the whereabouts, names of items and people, and some of the OC's that might show up every now and then._****

Fevers & Fatigue (Or home sweet home)

They were in about the middle of going up the mountain when Nico's legs gave way and he would have rolled down to his death if it weren't for Beckendorf stopping him then picking him up.

Beckendorf and Percy carried Nico in turns as they continued up the mountain, sweat rolling off their brows at the effort; Nico _was_ light, but with him so sick he couldn't lift off any of his weight and instead let it all fall onto their tired arms, his own forehead sweating heavily and a moan escaping his lips every once in a while.

"Hold on baby, we're almost there," Percy whispered gently in his ear, his breath warm against Nico's skin.

Nico tried to reply again and again, but he found that his voice was gone and found that his energy was about to leave too. He simply hated this. He knew he was sick and it was a natural thing that happened to everyone, but he still hated it. Ever since he was a kid, he'd hated the feeling of being sick and being tired, but he had to admit now that he felt worse than ever before. He really, truly, felt sick and that is why, with the aid of the exhaustion in his systems, he quickly fell into the arms of a dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p>Nico's eyes felt heavy as lead as he tried to open them, only managing to crack them open a little distance before closing them again, groaning tiredly as he tried to move his aching body.<p>

A warm, gently hand rested on him as he tried to get up and gently pushed him back down, putting a wet cloth on his burning forehead afterwards.

"Rest, boy. You need it." Said and obviously feminine but still hard voice. The voice of a woman who had spent most of her life around men, being forced to sound tough to survive.

"M-Mrs. Valdez…?" Nico asked in a hoarse voice that was barely audible. He felt a rush of joy as he recognized her voice and her accent, it was _definitely_ Mrs. Valdez.

"Yes, dear. How are you feeling? A little better hopefully? I did make you my secret herbal recipe after all." She said with a bit of cheerfulness in her voice, never the one to sound as sweet as she really was but she still made Nico very _very_ happy whenever she spoke.

"Um- sure," He chuckled but the chuckle quickly turned into a very long, very painful coughing fit, "W-where's Percy? The guy who-"

"I know who Percy is, Nico. He's outside with your other friend, Charles, was it?" Nico nodded and took off the wet cloth before sitting up quickly, fighting off a wave of nausea before sighing loudly, rubbing his sore back.

"Nico! Lay back down you're too tired to move around, young man!" She said sternly and a part of Nico –the part that remained a child through the years- felt the urge to obey without complaining because she was definitely right- but Nico was not a child anymore.

"N-no I can't stay like this- what time is it?" He said almost nervously, looking around as he tried to figure out how much he slept.

"Um, about four in the evening-" She started and Nico sighed in relief.  
>"Oh good-"<p>

"In the next day," Nico froze at that and she sighed, "You had such high temperature and you still have an awful fever, you refused to wake up, and when you did you didn't stay awake for long. Your temperature has dropped a little but you're still not healthy enough to get up, okay?"

Nico stayed quiet for a while, then finally nodded, Mrs. Valdez letting out a sigh of relief as he does and patting his shoulder strongly, making him wince a little; she really was a strong woman.

"Good. I'll go call your two friends since you seem like you something to tell them. Don't you move from that spot, you hear me?" Nico nodded and she quickly left, leaving him blushing a little. He didn't really have much to say to his two companions, he was just not feeling well and he knew only Percy could make him feel better. That was how much Nico had fallen or Percy, and without even realizing it. At first it was a little scary, to fall or someone so quickly and in such a small period of time, but then he pushed that thought away, reassuring himself with the knowledge of Percy falling for him just as quickly and hoping that it was all true, as unreal and fictional that all sounded.

As Nico looked around the small but tidy room, he heard approaching footfalls coming and turned his attention to the door instead, which revealed Beckendorf and Percy, the latter making his heart flutter and all the tiredness in his body lit off.

"Hey babe," Percy said with that kind nature of his, his eyes showing a mix of love and concern.

"Percy-" Nico said a bit too quickly and again ended up having a bone-racking coughing fit for about five minutes, him feeling like he might cough up his _lungs_.

"Shh- easy, don't speak yet you're still sick." Percy said as he sat next to Nico, stroking his sweaty hair as gently as possible and Nico waited a few minutes before speaking again.

"S-so what's the plan?" He asked and both men exchanged looks at that, having an answer but knowing he won't be liking it.

"Well… you see, Neeks, you're just so sick and you know how much you matter to us, so-" Percy started but Nico quickly cut him off.

"You're going without me?"

"Yes." Beckendorf said simply, interrupting Percy's panicked explanation and Nico's eyes looked every bit disappointed and hurt as they shifted from Percy to Beckendorf and back to Percy.

"But… but why? I-is it because I fainted on the way here? I-I it is I swear it won't happen again I was just tired and-" Nico said hurriedly, eyes wide with panic and slowly but surely filling with tears.

"No, Nico it's not that it's just…" Percy searched for an appropriate excuse then sighed in defeat, "it's just-"

"It's just I'm an obstacle, right? I'll just slow you down, right? WRONG! We're a team guys, we're supposed to be in this together!" Nico exclaimed and this time both men were silent, neither daring to look him in the eye as he let that hang, without any fruitful results.

"Listen… Nico you should get some more rest the two of us are going to go talk." Beckendorf said and before Nico or Percy could argue he pulled Percy out and shut the door in one quick move.

After sitting there watching the spot they were standing in a second ago, Nico fell back onto the bed, sighing heavily and slipping under the covers, anger and sadness exploding in his heart as he finally accepted the truth:

What he'd said wasn't true, and that was why they stayed silent. If there was a team, Nico wasn't in it, because _they_ were, and always would be, a team and Nico was and always would be a good-for-nothing tag-along.

And with that thought in mind, Nico closed his eyes and let the tears running down his cheeks and the sadness in his heart take him to a fitful sleep.

* * *

><p>"Hey," a soft voice whispered in Nico's ear, "Hey Neeks, get up it's dinner time." The gentle voice said and Nico slowly open his eyes and turned to look at the familiar face of Leo Valdez.<p>

"Leo!" Nico exclaimed happily as he slowly got up, "How are you?" Leo smiled as he helped Nico to his feet, supporting him until Nico's broken ankle could carry his weight on its own.

"I-I'm fine, I'd ask you how _you_ are but you look like shit right now," Leo laughed as he walked patiently next to Nico as he limped.

Nico laughed along and headed down the stairs slowly, clenching his teeth as each step sent pain through his body from his ankle, "Yea well, I guess after spending four years without injury or sickness I've finally run out of luck."

"Nah, you still have a lot of luck on your hands, finding friends like that from the Crystal Moon and all." Leo said and Nico's eyes immediately softened in pain as they entered the dining room.

"Hello, Nico. How do you feel now?" Mrs. Valdez asked in her hard but gentle voice.

"Much better thanks to you." He smiled as he sat down, nodding at Beckendorf and Percy at the table, his stomach growling despite itself as he looked at the fresh, tasty meal in front of him.

As they all ate, Nico, Leo and Mrs. Valdez made small talk until Percy cleared his throat, pulling everyone's attention.

"Yes?" asked Nico in a tone that could be considered irritated.

"Um, Charles and I have decided on something- I'll be staying here and he'll go on to find Thalia on his own." He said and although Nico was _very_ surprised by that he remained indifferent.

"Okay, so?" Nico shrugged and hid a satisfied smirk as the two men's faces took on an astonished quality and he quickly took two gulps of the wine Mrs. Valdez put in front of him then got up, "Well, thanks for dinner I'm going back to my room," He said and before anyone could say anything he half-ran half-hobbled up to his room, shut the door and lay down on his bed, a smile showing on his face but his eyes showing guilt as he replayed the look of astonishment and disappointment in Percy's beautiful sea-green eyes.

* * *

><p>The door swung open and Nico looked up from the wrapping of his bandage before looking back down, it was Percy.<p>

"What do you want?" He asked as Percy remained still and silent near the doorway. Sighing, Percy shut the door quietly and moved towards Nico, sitting next to him and taking his hand.

"Look at me…" He whispered and the desperation in his voice made Nico slowly turn to look at him, dark brown eyes meeting sea-green ones, so much emotions swimming in both that Nico nearly tore his eyes away, but Percy held him from his chin and slowly pressed his thin, gentle lips to Nico's soft ones, kissing him slowly, lovingly, and soon they were both holding each other, Nico's arms around Percy's wide muscular shoulders and Percy's around Nico's thin waist.

Soon, Nico found all thoughts of being mad at Percy escaping his mind and he only found peace and great love in his mind and the persistent urge to _stop_ what was going on, which he obediently listen to, knowing he just wasn't fully ready to cross that bridge of no return, so he quickly let go of Percy before anything could develop and slowly shook his head no, Percy nodding his head, understanding, and slowly letting go, laying down and pulling Nico down with him.

"Why are you upset with me?" Percy asked quietly as he hugged Nico close to his chest and nibbled on his ear.

"I… it's just I'm…" Nico sighed, "It's just, I feel like such an outsider with you guys, like I'm not part of the team and just a burden.." He said and hid his face in the crook of Percy's neck, a deep blush on his face.

He quickly looked up and punched Percy's hard chest as Percy broke out laughing, holding his stomach while tears of laughter fell from his eyes.

"What? Percy Jackson if you keep on laughing at me I assure you I'm going to wise up and leave you," He said sternly, a definitive scowl on his face as he watched Percy slowly recover from the laughing fit he just had.

"Sorry, you're just so cute sometimes," Percy said as he gripped Nico's cheek, pinching it hard.

"Don't treat me like a child, Percy." Nico said in a somewhat threatening tone as he tried to shrug out of Percy's hold.

"Sorry," Percy apologized again and he let go of his cheek, smiling as he pulled him into a hug, "You just care too much about the little thing, Nico, you stop being able to see the true beauty in everything." He said and immediately Nico felt a twinge in his heart, because that _was_ true, he did over-think every little detail and now after Percy pointed it out he realized it was his biggest flaw.

Nico sighed and closed his eyes, his fingers stroking up and down Percy's defined chest as he sunk into his warmth, "I'm tired…" He mutter and felt Percy tighten his hold around him.

"We all are," Percy whispered in his ear and those were the last words exchanged between the two boys as they stayed in each other's arms, silent words expressed through the closeness they were sharing until both boys –Nico before Percy- fell into a peaceful sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note: Hey all! New chapter for you, now this is the longest one, I'm very sure. I just want to thank my amazing reviewer, Reining3, for giving me inspiration for this one. This chapter is the funnest chapter I've ever written and I love it, a lot. I enjoyed writing it and it was really REALLY easy to write because of how fun it was. :) I hope you guys have as much fun reading it as I did writing it. If you have any questions, requests, suggestions, or cries of outrage just click that review button. :D Anyway, enjoy! And again Reining, thank you. :)  
>Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.<strong>

****_I don't own the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own the whereabouts, names of items and people, and some of the OC's that might show up every now and then._****

Dragon hills and Cookies (Or a generally good mood)

Charles Beckendorf looked around as he walked the cobbled streets of the town. According to the map he had taken before he departed the village of Atra he was in a town called Vakra, and according to the map it was quite big –not _big_ big, but big enough- but Beckendorf still never heard of it.

He'd been walking around the town for more than three hours but he refused to believe that he was lost. No, not lost, just getting to know all the places, he kept on telling himself each time he wandered off and found himself in a brand new area. Beckendorf had never noticed it before, but now he realized that only Thalia's sense of direction kept them from getting so lost before. Damn, he missed her. He didn't let it show, of course, but he missed his sarcastic friend, the team just wasn't the same without her. As he thought of her he felt guilty, she could be anywhere, and they could be doing anything to her, while he _wasted time_.

Beckendorf wasn't paying attention to the road as he mentally scolded himself, and so he bumped into someone and fell back with a surprised _'oof'_.

"S-sorry, sorry," He muttered as he gathered himself with his head hung low, praying to every god in existence that whoever it was he hit wasn't from the Crystal Moon and if they were they wouldn't recognize him.

"It's alright," said a voice with a hint of a smile in it and Beckendorf almost _danced_ with relief as he looked at the man he had collided with, he _definitely_ wasn't a Crystal Moon sailor –despite his tanned skin- and Beckendorf didn't recognize him in any way. "Are you a tourist? Never seen you around," The man asked with a friendly smile on his face.

"Oh, well, um-" Beckendorf started as he tried to explain it then scratched the back of his sheepishly, "Yea, I guess you could call me that," He chuckled nervously and fidgeted a bit, hoping that the answer was enough for the man.

"Ah, well then what are you doing here on Dark Valley road? It's no place for tourists- are you lost?" The man asked and Beckendorf set his jaw determinedly and his eyes scanned the place as he answered, "No? Of course not. I'm just looking around, 's all."

"Sure," the other man grinned and patted his back companionably, "Well then you should go looking around somewhere else because people are starting to notice you," the man gestured to the people around them and Beckendorf noted that they were indeed noticing him, shooting glances and gesturing ever so softly at him.

Beckendorf nodded and started walking ahead before the man stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder.

"If you continue on that way you'll get to Dread Mill Road, and between you and me, no man can walk there alone," the man said, again embarrassing Beckendorf to no end, "You don't have anywhere to go do you?" He asked, that damned smile of his never leaving.

Beckendorf struggled as he tried to make a smart retort but eventually sighed in defeat, finding nothing but the truth.

"No… I don't," He said, eyes shifting uneasily, "I'm looking for somewhere- someone actually, but I don't really know where they are, I just know they're in or near your town," He said, him and Percy remembering that there was some kind of society for the Crystal Moon in this town.

"Ah… Well, I can't keep you wandering around with no idea where you are or where you're going, how about you come spend the night at my house? It's not far from here," the man offered and as much as Beckendorf wanted to _not_ trust the man, he actually did, to some extent.

And so, because of Beckendorf's trust for the man they were both walking down Dragon Hill Road, a strange name that had a stranger story to it, according to Beckendorf's companion, there was once a genetic accident in a lab that was on the hill at the end of the road in which a dragon –yes, a dragon- was actually made, and said dragon had destroyed the whole thing, burning it along with the people inside it, and after that it sat surveying the town on the hill that it then thought its own property until some brave boy went to it and pierced its heart.

Beckendorf stared at the man, blinked twice, then grinned, "That's one ridiculous story. Alright, come on, what's the real one?" He asked as he looked at the hill in the distance, it had perfect green grass that swayed with the wind and had one cherry tree that stood tall and strong, it definitely didn't like it was inhabited by a dragon at any period of time.

"That's the real one, you can ask all the locals and they'll say the same, it's a known fact, why it's called that." The man answered and although Beckendorf wanted to push at the matter that the story sounded like a story from a little kid's fairytales book, he dropped it. After all, people long ago _did_ go to crazy extents to reach development, they could have easily made this one strange genetic mistake between thousands of others, it wasn't beyond them.

As Beckendorf thought he finally realized he forgot one very important detail, "Hey, um, I forgot to ask- what's your name?" He asked and mentally slapped himself for forgetting such a crucial detail.

"Oh um, it's Grace, Jason Grace," The man –Jason, said with a smile as they turned a right corner, "And you?"  
>"Oh, it's Beckendorf, Charles Beckendorf." He answered nervously and nodded unconsciously as he said it, as if reassuring himself that it was correct.<p>

Jason opened a wooden gate and led Beckendorf down a stony road in a green garden before stopping in front of a place that awfully resembled a restaurant, "Well then, Charles, shall we go inside?" He asked and the two men entered the house-restaurant, neither showing it but both knowing they were more than eager to taste whatever they were smelling.

* * *

><p>Nico sighed as he stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his thin waist, throwing a comb that he was using to calm his almost impossible-to-fix curls to throw it at the dancing form of none other than Percy Jackson.<p>

"Will you stop that dance of yours? You're embarrassing yourself," He asked as he walked towards the closet to pick some clothes, trying to will his eyes away from Percy's nearly naked form –wearing only a pair of boxers that still outlined Percy's cock enough to drive Nico crazy- as he considered whether he should kick Percy out or let him stay while he got dressed.

Percy turned around with that amazing smile of his that made Nico's heart skip not only one beat but about one hundred, his eyes sparkling with joy as he continued to sway his hips like an idiot, "What? Come on I know you secretly enjoy it!" He argued as he laughed and twirled around himself, making Nico –who had the urge to agree with that but stopped himself- laugh loudly and throw a sock at him.

"Okay, Percy, get _out_." Nico said with a hint of a smile in his voice as he turned around and picked out a pair of jeans and a plain black shirt, finding that they were what looked the most comfortable.

"But I wanna see you _naked_," Percy whined and gave Nico's back the most adorable puppy face in the planet, but _because_ it was directed at Nico's back it didn't affect him or change his mind much.

"And that is the exact reason why you have to leave," Nico laughed then yelped as Percy's strong arms pulled him into a hug from behind, his back hitting Percy's strong chest and as much as he didn't want to give Percy the satisfaction of doing it he leaned back against him, smiling softly, "Percy…" He started but was silenced with a kiss on the ear.

"Please? I promise if you let me watch I'll be a good boy for the rest of the day," Percy begged and Nico looked up with doubtful eyes at his lover, knowing that _that_ specific promise was impossible. He guessed that Percy knew that too because his pout quickly turned into a sheepish grin.

"Okay, maybe not the rest of the _whole_ day, half of it?" Nico again gave him a doubtful look and he sighed, "Okay for the next ten minutes."

"No, now let go of me and _get out_!" Nico laughed as he wriggled out of his grip, -nearly losing his towel in the process- and turned to flick Percy's cute little nose.

"But _Niiicoooo_…" Percy started but Nico quickly put a finger on his lips, successfully silencing him.

"Out, _now_." He said with the firmest tone he had and Percy slumped his shoulders, sighing in defeat.

"You're so cruel…" He said as a hopeless last attempt at staying as he put on a shirt and made his way to the door.

"Yeah and I like it that way," Nico said with a smirk on his lips as Percy gave him one last puppy face before shutting the door.

Nico sighed and finally let go of his towel, revealing the olive-colored parts he was hiding before as he slowly put on his own boxers -a smaller size than Percy's but definitely not considered small- smiling all the while to himself.

A knock came to the door as Nico shimmied into his jeans, followed by the voice of his lover.

"Nico? I don't want to disturb or anything but just to let you know Mrs. Valdez made cookies and Leo and I already ate our share and we're about to eat yours. So yea, just letting you know-"

The door swung open as Nico stood in it, his pants slipping off his thin hips as he had totally forgotten about them.

"Don't you _dare_ eat my cookies, Percy!" He shouted and he and Percy raced each other down the stairs and into the kitchen, stumbled on each other's feet and falling on top of each other, their noses brushing as they both laughed breathlessly, a strange gleam in both their eyes as the laughs died down and they found themselves kissing deeply. That is, of course, before Mrs. Valdez interrupted their make out session by kicking both in the ribs.

"Now I know I let you two share a bed but that does not mean you can have sex in my kitchen, Nico," she said and Nico's face took on a red quality as he blushed and pushed Percy off,

"O-of course not, Mrs Valdez, we're sorry!" He said and stood up, realizing his jeans were about to slip right off and quickly pulling them back up, blushing even more.

"Yeah we're sorry," Percy said with a grin on his face, "Just got quite excited about those cookies," He gestured to the plate full of cookies and took one before it was snatched from his hand and eaten by Nico.

"Alright, alright, sit down and have breakfast first," she said as she put three plates full of food on the table before she moved to the hall, putting on a jacket, "Any plans for today? Or are you going to sit around doing nothing like the useless men you are?" She asked jokingly and Leo made a fake offended gasp which made the other two men laugh.

"I was thinking Nico and I could show Percy around actually?" Leo said in a questioning tone as he looked at the two.

"Sure, why not? It'd be nice to show you around, then you'll know Atra's not such a horrible place." Nico said before he went back to eating, a small smile on his face.

Leo snorted, "It _is_ such a horrible place, but I guess you mean that it's _our_ horrible place."

"Alright sounds fine, I 'm off to the garage now okay?" She said as she punched all their shoulders –which hurt but they hid that well- "And don't get in trouble because I'm going to be too busy to get you out of it," she said as a last warning before stepping out of the house.

"So," Leo began with an evil smile on his face, "You guys ready to go back down the mountain?"

* * *

><p>"You actually do this every day?" Percy asked breathlessly as he sat on a rock at the bottom of the mountain. The walk down had taken exactly forty minutes, partially because at one point Nico got the sudden urge to urinate and they had to back track to the forest so he could do so while being hidden behind a tree.<p>

"Sure. It gets easier the more you do it," Leo said as he stood a few feet away. It was true, out of the three he looked the least spent, only a bead of sweat sliding down his temple showed that he was affected at all.

"I remember when we raced from top to bottom on a snowy day, I slipped and broke my leg in three different places," Nico laughed and rubbed his left leg instinctively.

"Oh you looked so ridiculous, hugging your leg to your chest and screaming like a little girl," Leo laughed and Nico threw a small pebble on his head,

"You shush, let's not get started on how you fainted after seeing my arm bleeding when we were twelve," Nico retorted and Leo narrowed his eyes,

"Well played," He sniffed then both burst out laughing, clapping their hands together.

"You've been friends for that long?" Percy asked with a small smile on his face as he got up and gestured to Nico and Leo with his hand to lead the way.

"Oh we've known each other since we were toddlers," Leo said as he led Nico and Percy through a side street that had a few kids playing in it, all of them greeting him with a cheerful "Hi Leo!"

"It's because his mom used to always leave him at our house while she worked," Nico started, "At first we hated each other but once we started school and noticed just how unpopular we were we knew we had to stick together to avoid being bullied," Percy nodded, understanding what they meant although he had never been physically bullied.

"Yea, exactly, so we started hanging out all the time and after that it all went downhill for me because I actually started liking this guy!" Leo finished and laughed as Nico slapped him on the back of the head.

"Oh man I _really_ know your pain there," Percy joked and both laughed again as Nico slapped the back of his head too.

"Oh shut up the both of you or I'll make you carry me back up the mountain," He threatened and they all laughed even more.

They were all walking through Grey Stone Square, each one of them holding a cup filled with what used to be ice cream but now was more like chocolate milk. Nico and Leo had already shown Percy around most of the town, telling him all kinds of childhood stories, from when they went trick-or-treating and got lost in the graveyard and had to spend the night in an empty grave to when they had gone to their very first party where Nico finally realized he was gay.

It was all very fun, Percy had never laughed so much in his life and he had never seen Nico smile and talk as much as he did that day.

"Hey, Percy, wanna go grab something to eat?" Leo asked as they waited for Nico –who had taken a seat on the side of the street- to finish tying his shoes again because he kept on stumbling on their long strings.

"Leo, it's nearly sunset I think we should head back so we'd be on time for dinner," Percy argued logically, if the way from top to bottom had taken forty minutes the way from bottom to top was definitely going to take even more.

"But I'm _starving_," Leo whined and for the millionth time that day, Nico slapped the back of his head, "Will you stop that? It hurts,"

"No, and well if you're starved you'll want to be there on time, you know your mom wouldn't cook on purpose if we're not there when she's back." Nico said and Leo sighed before nodding,

"Fine.. But I'm not happy about this!" He cried out dramatically and Percy laughed, patting his back,

"Man, I hate to break this to you, but Nico doesn't give a damn whether you like it or not," He said and moved on to walk next to Nico, taking his hand gently and smiling widely at him as Nico looked surprised by his move, and the two walked ahead, with a fuming Leo in tow.


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey guys! :) New chapter. I apologize from now if it's not what you expected from me, it's much more emotional than any other chapter and I noticed that while I wrote it, but it was necessary, so I hope none of you hate it too much. If you notice any mistakes or if you have any comments, good or bad, put them on reviews. Please do, I know I'm asking for a lot, but please review and tell me what you think. What you think will happen, what you think is wrong, what you think is good, what you think could be improved. I just need to know what you guys think about this, your review could be only a sentence, I don't care, but I want to know what you guys think. :) Either way, thanks again for all the alerts, and now I'll let you read the chapter. Enjoy! :)**

**Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.**

****_I don't own the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own the whereabouts, names of items and people, and some of the OC's that might show up every now and then._****

Love and Understanding (Or Uh-Oh)

"I know you want to help, Jason, but I just don't think you need to get involved in this whole thing," Charles Beckendorf said simply as he took another bite from the piece of bread he was eating. The food in Jason's grandmother's restaurant was good, really good, but Beckendorf opted to eat something light so he would be capable of searching around the town with a light but satisfied stomach.

Jason snorted, "Charles, I hate to break this to you but you're in a _town_. And although this town is a tad bit bigger than most, it's still a _town_." He emphasized on the word town as he drank from his cup of milk. Beckendorf was rather surprised and amused to see the man drinking milk at his age, but the man seemed to be _proud_ of that, putting it in a transparent mug and sighing in content each time he took a particularly long sip.

"Yea…" Beckendorf said slowly, wondering what the hell the man was trying to point out, "the point is?" He asked, really starting to think that Jason was much thicker in the head than he first thought; of course he knew he was in a town!

Jason sighed exasperatedly, as if Beckendorf was really stupid, "My point is," He started as he took one big gulp of milk, emptying the mug before putting it down with a soft thud, "That in towns, everybody knows everybody, meaning what? Meaning that I probably know exactly where you want to go," He said with a bright smile as it clicked in Beckendorf's brain.

"Oh," He said dumbly as he gathered his thoughts before quickly explaining that maybe Jason didn't know where he wanted to go because the place might be hidden quite well.

"Will you just tell me and then we'll see whether I know it or not?" Jason asked impatiently as he looked Beckendorf in the eye.

"Erm," He hesitated, not knowing whether he should tell or not, then sighed and decided that it wasn't going to hurt him anyway. Probably, "I'm looking for this sort of hide out or something, for a ship called the Crystal Moon, if you've heard of it?" He asked, a part of him hoping Jason did know such a place even though he knew he most probably did not.

Jason's face took on a thoughtful quality as he tried to think of a place that matched Beckendorf description, then finally sighed in defeat,

"Sorry mate, I can't think of a place like that. I know the Crystal Moon, but I don't think they have any sort of hideout in this town," He smiled apologetically at Beckendorf, who waved it off although disappointment did flood that previously hopeful part of him.

"It's alright I didn't expect you to know anyway," Beckendorf smiled and saw a look pass on the blonde's face.

"What?" He asked as Jason started to get up, his guards going on immediately, his first instinct was that Jason was indeed from the Crystal Moon crew and was about to get back up and capture Beckendorf, but then Jason grinned widely eyes gleaming which indicated he had an idea –that, at least, Beckendorf learnt about the man, it always showed when he was having a crazy idea running around in his brain.

"Trust me, and follow," He quickly said, running to the kitchens with a very confused Beckendorf in tow.

* * *

><p>"You're sure about this, right Gran?" Jason asked as he tried to steal a cookie from the cookie plate his Grandmother was about to put on display, only succeeding in getting a rather painful whack on the head from her and getting the plate even farther away from himself, a pout forming on his lips that almost had Beckendorf cracking up if it weren't for Jason's rather stern Grandmother's presence.<p>

"Are you questioning my answers, young man?" His grandmother asked and both men –although ashamed about it- shrunk back.

"…No…" Jason said cautiously.

"No, what?" She asked and Jason quickly snapped to attention.

"No, ma'am!" He saluted with that and it earned him another whack on the head. His grandmother was quite tough despite her old age.

"So let me get this straight," Beckendorf began, "We go to the eastern exit of the town and walk a little to the right, we find a lone stone, we move it and we'll find the hideout?"

"Damn right," Jason's grandmother said as she received an order and started working on it.

"And you know all this, how?" He asked hesitantly, knowing that a hideout wouldn't just be common knowledge in town.

"Boy, that hideout is older than my own mother. It was abandoned up until they took it, so all of us who have explored there as children would know about it," She explained with a bit of a temper; she did not like being questioned.

"Oh, alright. Well then, I should head that way, thanks for everything, I'm very grateful," Beckendorf said as he started heading out.

"Where do _you_ think you're going? I'm coming with you! Goodbye Gran, try not to miss me too much!" Jason smiled gently as he kissed his Grandmother's cheek, who rolled her eyes,

"Yes, yes, just go, and try not to get killed out there, eh?" She said and Jason nodded as he left right after Beckendorf, knowing this was just the way his Gran expressed her love.

* * *

><p>"Hey Charles, come here I think I found it!" Jason whispered and Beckendorf gave him a confused look,<p>

"Why are you whispering?" He asked in a normal tone as he came closer to examine the stone in front of him. It didn't look like it was the one they were looking for, it looked too _normal_.

"Adds to the excitement?" Jason whispered and he almost got whacked upside the head for the third time if he hadn't bent down and moved the stone.

"No!" Beckendorf cried but it was too late and… Nothing happened.

"Hah. Seems like it's the wrong one as well," Jason said and started to turn back before the ground started to shake underneath their feet, pebbles jumping up and down in a pattern as a doorway started to open in the ground, then it was fully open and everything came to an abrupt stop.

"… Well that was a bit cool," Jason said, trying to loosen the tension radiating from Beckendorf as he clapped him on the back, "Come on let's go in and get this done with,"

And they did go in, navigating through long corridors that branched into even more corridors, the place obviously designed to make any outsider lose their sense of direction while they searched for the person Beckendorf was looking for, a woman named Thalia, according to him.

Jason personally wondered what made this Thalia so important that Charles was ready to go through this labyrinth to get her, but he still made no argument.

Beckendorf was following Jason while glancing behind his back every once in a while, getting that feeling that told him danger was near, when Jason suddenly stopped, making him bump into him.

"Uh-Oh." Jason muttered as he stared ahead, completely motionless.

"Why Uh-" Beckendorf began as he turned his head back ahead to ask Jason his question when he spotted about a dozen men standing ahead looking at them.

"Oh." He finished. They'd been spotted.

* * *

><p>A few miles from the town of Vakna, lay the village of Atra, where Nico and Mrs. Valdez were currently arguing in hushed tones in her garage.<p>

"Nico you have to go, dear. I know you don't want to, but you can't just neglect this." Mrs. Valdez said patiently as she patted Nico's head gently, or as gently as she could muster.

"I can, and I will, Mrs. Valdez. I just don't see why I need to, it's not like he could care less." Nico argued as he folded his arms against his chest stubbornly.

"Nico, honey, your mother would have wanted you to do so…" She said, hating to use this against the young man but knowing nothing else could convince him.

"To do what?" Percy asked as he stepped into the garage, having been looking for Nico, and took a seat next to Nico on top of the not-so-clean table.

"Nothing-" Nico started but was interrupted by Mrs. Valdez.

"I'm trying to convince Nico here to go visit his father. No matter what you do Nico he will still be your father, you must check up on him," She said, giving Nico a stern look.

"I know that, what do you think made me leave this village?" Nico muttered irritably with his gaze fixed on the floor.

"I- Nico it's not such a bad idea.." Percy said gently, taking Nico's hand in his.

"It's only for a few hours Nico, how bad could it be?" Mrs. Valdez urged him, knowing that with Percy helping her with convincing him she'd succeed.

"It could, and will, be very, very bad," Nico replied, giving her a dark look before Percy wrapped an arm around his thin waist, Hugging him gently to his chest.

"Well what if I went with you?" He asked gently, kissing Nico's head gently.

"I- Well- I mean, you don't have to come," Nico said hesitantly, he personally would find it much less awful if Percy came along, but his father was an intimidating, obnoxious man, not everyone was ready to just go and meet him.

"I'll come, as a support system," Percy smirked and Nico pinched his arm but smiled,

"Alright, but don't expect much from him," Nico said and was crushed as Percy hugged him tightly.

"Thank you, Nico!" Percy said and kissed him full on the lips before hopping off the table, Nico rolling his eyes; his lover could be so ridiculously childish at times.

* * *

><p>Nico sighed as he and Percy rounded the corner, his father's house clear to both of them now, and unconsciously started slowing down.<p>

"How about we just turn back?" He asked Percy, his voice still strong but his fear clear in his eyes.

He felt a gentle hand squeeze his shoulder and he sighed again, though his heart rate did decrease a little bit.

"Nico, we came all this way. We won't stay for long alright?" Percy reassured him and after a moment of consideration, Nico nodded, accepting defeat.

They walked ahead in silence, one dreading what was to come and the other hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. Stopping in front of the door, Nico took in a deep breath before knocking strongly, Percy squeezing his other hand for a second before letting go.

"Dad," Nico said, his voice devoid of emotion, as the door opened to reveal a tall man who strongly resembled Nico but at the same time didn't at all. He had dark hair and dark eyes like Nico's, but where Nico's structure was gentle and somewhat feminine, his structure was strong and masculine.

"What brings you here?" The man asked in a cold, mocking voice and Percy –who was standing a little behind Nico- immediately knew the big difference between the two. Everything.

"I didn't come willingly, if that's what you're worried about. Just dropping by to say hi," Nico answered just as coldly and it was immediately apparent just how much the two despised each other, though where the older man held no affection for his son whatsoever, the younger man's hate was more like directing pain on the man. It was like the idea of having to keep this up, to put up with his father's hatred, stabbed him deep in the heart.

"Well are you done saying hi? I'd rather not waste my day on someone like you," His father replied and it took every ounce of Percy's being not to finish the man right then and there.

"Someone like me?" Nico scoffed, "You don't even know what I'm like," Nico said darkly but hurt was clearly showing in his voice.

"Yes I do. You're a useless, weak boy that comes from a pathetic woman. You're a sad excuse for a human being, Nico. Actually, you're a sad excuse for a living creature," This time Percy really did start towards the man,

"Don't you _dare_ talk to Nico like that," Nico put a hand on Percy's chest, stopping him.

"Percy, don't bother I'm fine-"

"Who's he?" Nico's father asked coldly.

"D-dad this is Percy, he's my..my lover.." Nico introduced hesitantly, barely able to meet his father's piercing gaze as the need to cry doubled and tripled inside of him but no, he will never let his father have the satisfaction of seeing him cry.

"Lover? Well I'm not surprised, I always knew you were a fag,"

"Dad-"

"Are you done saying hi? I'm starting to feel sick just talking to you," His father said, smiling awfully coldly at him and in a second Nico was turning back and running away as fast as he could, his almost healed ankle twinging painfully but it was left ignored as Nico continued to run, tears streaming down his face.

"Nico!" Percy's voice came from behind him, Nico noting that Percy wasn't too far but that didn't slow him down. He needed to get as far away as possible from that man.

Nico was suddenly yanked back and pulled into a warm embrace, his face buried in Percy's strong chest before he started struggling, trying to break free.

"No- let me go, Percy let me go!" He cried angrily as he struggled even more, Percy's arms tightening around him to insure that he wouldn't escape.

"No." was Percy's answer, his voice strong and not shaken despite the fact that Nico was landing some pretty hard punches on his chest now.

"Let me go damn it! Let me go- _Let me go_-"Nico's punches started to lose their strength as his struggling began to wind down, "Please let me go.." He whispered before he let his head fall onto Percy's chest, his hands clutching for dear life as he sobbed softly, his tears soaking into the other man's shirt,

"Shh… It's okay," Percy whispered soothingly to him as he rubbed circles into his back,

"I-it's not- I told you it was a bad idea!" Nico gasped between sobs.

"Yes, yes you did and I should have listened. I'm sorry," Percy gentle voice said and the two stayed that way for a while, each in the other's arms, one crying his pain away and the other comforting him with soft words and gentle kisses.

Neither knew how much time had passed when they finally broke apart, Nico's sobs now diminished to small sniffles and whimpers as he took Percy's hand and they walked ahead in silence, no words exchanged as they found that words were not needed. Many silent minutes passed before one of them broke the silence,

"Percy? Nico started softly,

"Hmm?" Percy replied gently, his eyes studying the sun as it began to set,

"Do you want to meet my mother?" He asked simply and there were several more silent minutes before Percy answered,

"Sure," He said, a smile on his face.

They walked again in comfortable silence to their destination, and before long the two were walking into the graveyard, the place eerily beautiful with the breeze blowing gently into it, ruffling the leaves of the lone tree that stood at the far end of it.

Sitting down before his mother's grave Nico touched the stone with a gentle hand, a soft, sad smile on his face as he let go,

"Hey mom," He began softly, his smile wavering a little, "I'm sorry I've been away for so long…" He trailed off before Percy took his hand and squeezed, giving him the strength he needed to keep going, "I-I brought someone with me to see you," Nico said, looking at Percy before turning back to the grave-stone, "His name is Percy. He's my lover mom. He's really great I-I really like him…" Nico said and again looked at Percy, nodding softly.

"H-hello, ma'am," Percy began hesitantly, "I'm Percy, it's nice to finally meet you…" He smiled.

Nico smiled gently, squeezing his hand approvingly, before turning back to face his mother's grave, speaking again to the place where his mother's body rested, where her soul was closest, and both young men talked, and talked, until the last rays of sunshine faded, and then they talked some more until all the stars in the night sky shown brilliantly before they both got up and walked back to the house, their arms wrapped around each other, their love and understanding for each other, stronger than ever.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Mini Note: Hey all! Sorry for the very very late update, I don't want to take too long explaining everything here so I'm going to write my Author's note at the foot of the chapter this time, anything you don't understand I'll hopefully explain there and if you still have questions, just send them in a PM or a review. Enjoy!**

**Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.**

****_I don't own the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own the whereabouts, names of items and people, and some of the OC's that might show up every now and then._****

**Quick Escape (or Hurried Reunion)**

Charles Beckendorf watched the men charge at them before it clicked in his mind, and his instinct kicked in immediately as he gripped Jason's hand, pulling him in the other direction, "Run!" He shouted and soon the two of them were running through a labyrinth of corridors with about seven men running close behind.

As they reached a corridor with many doors, Beckendorf started to slow, watching each door intently.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Asked Jason as he went back to him, tugging his arm urgently, as the men turned a corner and became in their view.

"We can't just leave Thalia, Jason, she's the reason we came in the first place." Beckendorf explained simply and watched Jason's panicked face turn even _more_ panicked.

"Charles, do you seriously think we can find her with those chasin-" Jason was cut off as a new but familiar voice came,

"Looking for me?" Asked Thalia calmly, a smirk on her face as she stood in one of the doorways. Her clothes were torn and dirtied with dust and blood and her face was bruised and bleeding but despite it all, she still looked as strong and capable as ever.

"Thalz!" Beckendorf shouted as he ran to her –Jason following quickly- and pulled her into a quick hug before letting her go, "How did you get out?"

Thalia rolled her eyes, "No man can keep me locked up for long, Beckendorf, not even Luke," She said and Beckendorf couldn't help but grin; there was the Thalia they knew.

"Uh sorry to interrupt," began Jason hesitantly, "But unless you have a way of getting out of here _right now_ we're screwed,"

"Way ahead of ya, buddy," said Thalia with a smug smirk as she pulled out a chain of keys, clacking them, "You see these guys think they're so smart, but they forgot I was trained with them, and what they'd always taught us was to remember every detail," She put up a finger as Jason tried to interrupt, "I'm not finished yet. So, see this key?" She asked as she picked a key that looked out of place, like it didn't belong with the others.

"Yea?" Asked Beckendorf,

"Well," Thalia started as she walked towards a door, "It's unique, right? So if it's unique, it's keyhole must be unique too, meaning-"

"That door's the key's door, but how are you so sure it's the exit?" Beckendorf asked as he hurried to her side, starting to catch up with what she's saying,

"Because as smart as they are, they forgot to erase this," She said as she showed him the key, with the words "Emergency Exit." Written on it, and pushing the key into the key hole, she opened the door before turning back to them,

"Now move your lazy asses and let's get the hell out of here,"

* * *

><p><em><strong>(Next Day)<strong>_

Waking up, Jason looked around him at the unfamiliar place before he remembered what had happened, growling in frustration; they'd dragged him along! They'd dragged him along with them despite all his protests, telling him that he was in this too deep now and was already in danger, and made him leave his grandma all alone in the town with nobody to help her in the restaurant. Well frankly his grandma hardly needed help, she _was_ a strong woman, but Jason was sure she'll be angry. Very angry.

Standing and cracking the knots in his back, Jason sighed and scanned the area, deciding that bitterness wasn't going to do him any good and headed to the rock at the front of the small clearing in the forest, where Thalia was supposed to be keeping watch.

"Hey," He said as he spotted her sitting on it, walking towards her, "How long have you been keeping watch? Need me to take this shift?"

"Sit down, and no that's alright we're going to move on soon anyway, we need to have an early start to get to Atra in time," She replied with a shrug.

"Atra? Wait – like Atra, the village?!" Jason asked, hoping against hope she did _not _ mean the village.

"The very one," She _did_ mean it.

"But, why? What business do you have there? Do you know how _awful_ that place is?!" He asked urgently, he'd only been to Atra once as a child for only a few minutes and it had been the worst experience in his whole life; He had witnessed a big fight in some restaurant that had men beating each other up with furniture and silverware and after that was over he'd witnessed a tall pale man with black hair that looked quite scary hit a little boy that looked like he was his son so hard the boy was sent flying, and the worst part was that the boy only got up with his head hanging down and followed the man silently, but before he was out of sight Jason thought he'd glimpsed a hint of a tear.

It was a horrible place.

"Jason, we're going there to hide, we're being followed and our only hope is Atra, besides, our other two companions are there do you expect us to just ditch them?" She explained exasperatedly,

"No, but-"

Alright, let's get back on track guys, we need to get there before the sun is down!" Beckendorf said in a commanding tone and Jason tried to argue but he was given a sharp look from Thalia.

"Shut up, let's go," She said sternly and got up, following Beckendorf out of the clearing in the little forest and onto the side of the almost abandoned road, leaving Jason alone before he too reluctantly followed with a scowl on his face.

* * *

><p>"Hey Beckendorf! How far are we from Atra? I'm getting tired over here!" Thalia shouted, sweat gleaming on her forehead as she walked a little bit behind the two men, telling them that they stank too much it was offending to all her five senses.<p>

"Still far, why don't you go back to arguing with Jason? I was highly entertained," Charles Beckendorf replied with a smug smile on his face, although catching up with Thalia for a full half an hour had been fun and they'd both missed each other much more than they showed or admitted, they'd both soon gotten bored of talking and started arguing, and both knew and argument between them never really ended, so they shut up and stopped interacting upon silent agreement.

And now Thalia was bothering the poor guy. Beckendorf chuckled and shook his head, that woman was the definition of impossible.

"He's giving me the silent treatment-" She replied but was cut off,

"Not giving you the silent treatment just not going to waste my breath on you," Jason said with a growl in his voice. The whole time Beckendorf had been around this guy he was always calm, very calm, even when hot soup had been spilled all over his torso, but now, now he looked near explosion, but nevertheless, Beckendorf didn't blame him, Thalia was a complete pain in the ass on her best days.

"Which is, by the way, fatal. When was the last time you brushed your teeth?" Thalia asked and if looks could kill, Thalia would have been dead meat.

"Well, the last time was yesterday before you know, you _kidnapped_ me?!" Said Jason irritable, "When do we get to Atra, Charles? I just want to get this done with!"

"For the millionth time we're still far! Thalz lay off, the guy hasn't done anything to you to deserve this," Beckendorf sighed, he regretted urging her to argue with Jason now, it was like trying to reason with a couple of three-year-olds.

"No, except he kept whining the whole time we were trying to lose the men following us, like, man, just get over it; your grandma won't _die_ without you, in fact I think she might thank us for ridding her of her unbearable annoying grandson," Thalia replied and Beckendorf saw Jason open his mouth to snap something back at her before pausing and closing it again. Beckendorf had to remember to thank him for that later. "Alright guys, let's call a truce? Please? Till we get to Atra then you're allowed to bug whoever the hell you want but please, please, let's call it a truce?" Beckendorf begged as he walked, giving Thalia a pleading look.

Sighing, Thalia considered the suggestion for a bit, on one hand, she had to stop entertaining herself with the Jason boy and how easy it was to get under his skin, but on the other hand, she got to bug Percy and Nico all she wanted, and she damn missed having silly arguments with Percy and missed turning Nico into a blushing heap until he blew up and shouted in her face; that was always so fun to watch, at least to her.

"Fine," She finally said, patting Jason's back, "Truce?"

Sighing, Jason nodded, deciding to let it go since there was no point in arguing all the way to Atra and it really was exhausting to argue with a person like Thalia; she had a head harder than a rock.

Smiling in joy, Beckendorf nodded in approval and thanked all the gods in existence –known and unknown- for gifting him with the awfully rare silence of the one and only Thalia.

* * *

><p>"Leo, listen to me, we <em>can't<em> leave them behind, okay? I know the ship leaves port in three hours but we can't afford leaving them, they're our friends!" Argued Percy as Leo repeated for the one hundredth time that they had to leave with the Dragon Wing in a few hours because he was the only mechanic so he was needed and Nico was already in the crew so he was also much needed. The both had been arguing for hours and neither had given Nico a turn to speak, which seemed very unfair to him because he had something really important to say,

Sighing exasperatedly, Nico looked around the street they were currently arguing in the middle of, the child in him making his heart ache as he saw the house that used to have an old man –who spoiled him a lot- selling antiques in it, now a wrecked heap thanks to a fire that burnt everything in the house, along with the old man. Urging his eyes away from the wreckage, he turned back to the three figures walking down Red's street –vaguely wondering who the third person could be- before looking back at Leo and Percy and clearing his throat.

They kept on arguing. Sighing, he cleared it louder…

Still arguing. Taking in a long, deep breath, he opened his mouth and shouted two words: "SHUT. UUUUUP!"

Silence.

Smirking smugly, he cleared his throat and pointed in the direction of the figures, "You don't have to wait because they're already here,"

"Oh," uttered Percy, his face going a deep shade of pink in embarrassment and making Nico's lips twitch in amusement.

Starting towards them, a grin broke on Percy's face and he took Nico's hand, tugging him along,

"You're the best you know that?" He said, squeezing Nico's hand gently.

"Just doing my job," Nico replied, laughing softly and waving back at Thalia and Beckendorf with his free hand as he spotted them waving at him, Percy and Leo.

As the groups of threes met, Percy grinned and pulled Thalia into a rough hug, ruffling her already messy hair before pulling away, grinning more as he saw the scowl on her face,

"I missed'cha Thalz, where have you been running off to?" He asked, laughing as she rolled her eyes.

"Oh you know, just getting captured and held by the Crystal Moon thanks to your little boyfriend," She replied, smirking as she watched the heat rise up in Nico's face; yep, this was going to be fun.

"I never asked you to save me, you know," He replied angrily, glaring daggers at her,

"Not like you could have escaped on your own man, you're weaker than Madam Muriel in the sewing shop," Leo said and Nico shot him a glare,

"Shut up,"

"The little guy has a point-" Thalia started,

"Hey!" Leo protested,

"But," She continued, "We just felt so bad for you, so weak and helpless-"

"I'm neither weak _nor_ helpless!" Nico cut her off, panting heavily with bottle in anger.

Thalia laughed and pulled Nico towards her, ruffling his hair, which earned her another glare, "I'm kidding dumbass! You'd think you would have gotten used to my humor by now," She said as Nico pushed her off, blushing in embarrassment,

"I- that wasn't funny," He replied, allowing Percy to pull him into a one armed hug, hiding his face in Percy's collar until his face cooled down a bit, and then he kept it there a bit more because he felt better and safer that way, being held by Percy.

"Aw, poor ickle baby wants to snuggle," Pouted Thalia as she teased again, laughing as he shot her a glare, "Alright, alright, I'm sorry!"

"Are you always like this?!" Asked Jason with a frustrated tone; how could they stand her?!

"Yes," Percy and Beckendorf answered for Thalia before she could and she gave them a shocked look,

"Don't lie, guys! I'm an amazing friend!" She protested and Nico snorted, "Shut up Nico, you're a special case,"

"Why do you like bullying me so much?" Nico sighed,

"It's a sign of love dear, plus you're easily annoyed, so you're like an easy target!" She answered and Percy held Nico tighter,

"Stop bullying my Nico, Thalz, or I'm coming after you!" He said in a fake stern voice and an expression that should have looked serious but instead looked quite ridiculous and the four companions had to crack up at that, it just didn't suit Percy.

After they'd quieted down a bit and all conversation died down to small pieces of chitchat, Leo cleared his throat,

"We need to get going," He stated,

"Get going where?" Asked Jason and Thalia at the same time, shooting each other foul looks.

"Dragon Wing, it leaves in a few hours and Nico and I need to be on it," Leo explained and Jason's eyes flitted from Leo to Nico, pausing on Nico a little, he looked familiar… Maybe… He shook his head. Impossible.

"But since all of us are wanted now," Percy started, "We all kind of need to go along with them," He finished, sighing,

"I can't go anywhere further than here I'm already too far from Vakna, I need to get back!" Jason said, panic obvious in his voice and eyes.

"Look, Jason," Beckendorf started patiently, "you _can't_ go back until all this is over, okay? I know you're worried about your grandmother, that's what I'd expect you to be, but if you go back now you'll be putting her and the rest of us in danger, alright mate? I know it's hard and I promise it'll all be over soon, you have my word," He promised, not fully believing what he just said but hoping he could achieve it, either way Jason's eyes showed that he was convinced to some degree and that was what was more important at that moment.

"There's still a problem," Thalia said and everyone turned back to her, "How are we supposed to board the Dragon Wing? We're known as its enemies, they'll lock us up in a second,"

"I won't let it happen," Nico said and Leo continued in a heartbeat,

"Nico and I have served there long enough and I think we've earned their trust, if we explain, they'll let you in."

"Is that for sure?" Asked Thalia and Leo started to speak but she quickly added, "Or is it wishful thinking? Because with all due respect we _cannot_ depend on some unstable facts stated by some kid from _Atra_ right now, all our lives are on the line," She said coldly and Nico had to hold Leo back so he wouldn't hurt her, Leo had been known for his temper after all.

"Oh, excuse me, little miss but I am _not_ a kid and this Atra you're mocking has saved all your damn asses so unless you want this whole village to turn against you and hand you to the Crystal Moon you better do as told 'cause we may look weak and scattered but god only knows what we do to pricks like you," Leo spat and Thalia would have snapped something back if it weren't for Percy stopping both,

"Guys, guys!" Percy yelled over their voices, "Look Leo, she didn't mean that, Atra is..is.." He searched for a word, "Great! And you're great and we're thankful for what you did for us, and it would be really great if you could lead us to the ship alright?" He reasoned quickly and Leo kept on glaring at Thalia until Nico elbowed him, then he sighed, nodding,

"Alright, let's go," He said and there were a few muttered objections but everyone followed obediently, approaching the ship until they stoop a few steps away from the boarding plank and Nico grinned brightly;

He damn missed that ship.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Hey again! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Now to explain the very late update, it's just that I've had that curse called an Author's BLOCK. The worst thing an author can ever experience, and my fellow authors who review this story will relate. Anyway, I solved it by asking one of the authors I look up to on this site for help, who is *drumroll* Hitomi-Chan, of course. What can I say, this guy is amazing, if you haven't read his fanfictions yet, go read them, you'll be amazed. Anyway, hopefully this will hopefully be a one time thing and I won't update so late anymore, the other reasons are just like, getting busy with summer weddings, and then starting in a new highschool, new environment where I don't know any people and stuff, I had to focus a lot on school and pause some other stuff for a bit, but now I'm back.<strong>

**Anyway, you might have noticed there are two days in this chapter. You see when I started I noted that the first part is in the previous day, the day in the previous chapter, and the rest is a new day, so I had to eventually split it like that. It's not like a permanent arrangement, I won't split a lot, but I had to do that so your brains wouldn't explode or something from the irrational time change in this chapter. **

**What else... If some characters have changed some behaviors suddenly in this chapter, I'm very sorry, each day I only wrote like a couple of paragraphs then stopped when I had the block and that caused some confusion in my own mind, but I tried to gather up all the pieces and I hope it's good enough.**

**Hmm.. Oh! Thalia, guys don't hate Thalia here, if you do. Her personality here reflects some personalities I know in reality and they're people who are my friends. Very irritating, very infuriating, but in the end you just love them anyway right? Thalia's that irritating friend who deep down has kindness in them, so yeah, if you hate her, don't, she's supposed to be like that here.**

**Sorry there's not much Nico/Percy stuff in this chapter, it was more focused on the other three since I had to make them catch up with the others, from now on chapters will most probably not be split, not until we get to the final two or three chapters, which are drawing very near but I think we still have some time, unless you're like, getting bored then just say it and I'll finish up already. (I'm kidding guys.)**

**Anywho, some of you might have noticed Jason's memory, you can guess, it's very obvious if you ask me but I liked putting it there and I think I might refer to it later on. **

**Well, I think that's it for now, Thanks to Reining3 , XTheSonofHadesX , and HeyItsAmber for actually reviewing, looking forward to others who might -hopefully, I'd appreciate it a lot- review this time, thanks for the follows and favourites, sorry for the late update (and this late Author's note), and hope you enjoyed! See you in the next chapter! :)**

**~Charlie-the-Spider**


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's note: Hey all! I don't know if this is considered late, it might be my fastest update so far -Damn, I'm lazy- but sorry anyway, school kinda gets in the way, it sucks. Anyway, I want to thank XTheSonofHadesX for promoting my story on his profile and on specific chapters in his fanfictions, I appreciate it so much dude!**

**Perico forever: Uh, here's your update. xD I hope you like it.**

**Anyway, I'll write the rest of this at the bottom, so carry on reading, and please, XTheSonofHadesX, if you like this chapter, consider it dedicated to you. If not, then I'll try harder. **

**Oh, one last note, I'm publishing a new PJO related fanfiction right now, it's AU but I think you Nico fans will like it. Please, if you have the time, go check it out, I'm updating the first two chapters of it right after this one. Thank you everyone for your support, and now you can go ahead and read. :)**

**Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.**

****_I don't own the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own the whereabouts, names of items and people, and some of the OC's that might show up every now and then._****

**Settling In**

"Okay guys, we need to go through this one last time, you let Nico and I talk first, then-" Leo was cut off as he explained their plan as a man walked down the gangplank.

"Ahoy Leo!" Big Jim shouted as he made his way to the group, his hand high in the air, "Where ya been ya little bastard? We been waiting fer ages!" He asked as he pulled Leo into a one armed hug, rubbing his knuckles on the boy's scalp, making his curls stand up even more. Big Jim was a fat middle aged man that always smelled bad. He worked on the deck and he always seemed to wear the same clothes to work, saying that they were already ruined so there was no need to change them and ruin all the others. In Nico's opinion, the man was simply obnoxious; he always mocked Nico's humble expertise and belittled him, but to the rest of the crew he was like a god, they all couldn't go a day without him. Leo, of course, shared Nico's opinion, but that didn't stop the old man from loving him, insisting on greeting him like that every time he saw him, much to the boy's dismay.

"Was waiting on Nico to sort out a few things mate, no man is to be left behind, remember?" Leo replied weakly, trying to shrug out of the hold but it was too strong. He also caught Jason stifling a laugh at that; the guy was going to pay later.

"Well the rule does say _man_, so.." Big Jim trailed off as he looked at Nico with distaste, he'd never liked the boy, he was just too spoiled for his own good, he didn't even belong on that ship.

"Big Jim," Nico saluted coldly, nodding stiffly and looking the man squarely in the eyes, making sure the warning behind the salute was known.

"Nico," Big Jim nodded back, hardly acknowledging the warning; what could a boy like that do to him?

Thalia coughed awkwardly and Leo jumped in his place, remembering what they were there for in the first place,

"Hey Big Jim, we also have some friends with us who really need to board, think you can negotiate with the Captain and get them in?" Leo asked nervously, Thalia shooting him a look that said he was a complete idiot, making him shrug uneasily.

Big Jim raised his eyebrow, his eyes looking at each one of them intently before looking back at Leo, "They're from the Crystal Moon aren't they?" He asked and panic showed in Leo's eyes,

"Y-y-yes but you see they're not-"

"No," Big Jim said firmly and started turning away,

"Big Jim!" Nico called, surprisingly firmly, and the man stopped before turning back to them reluctantly, "I think it's -if not our right- then theirs, to explain themselves to the Captain, don't you agree? They crossed all this way, we can't just send them back, can we now?" He reasoned and watched the man's face contort in annoyance, wanting to disagree with the kid for the sake of disagreeing but knowing that the kid had a point.

"Fine, I'll go call Captain Chiron, stay here laddies." Big Jim said irritably before turning away and walking back to the ship, disappearing on it for quite a long time before he came back with another man with him.

"That's your Captain?" Jason asked in a low tone as he watched them make their way to the group,

"Yes, why?" Leo replied,

"He looks nice. I thought all Captains have to look evil and stuff," Jason explained and Leo fought off the urge to laugh at the guy, he was very adorable, not that Leo would ever admit that out loud.

Stopping before the group, Captain Chiron studied them for a while before looking at Nico,

"Nico, how are you, lad?" He asked, his voice gentle but still firm.

"I'm fine, Captain, but I need to talk to you about-" Nico was cut off as Captain Chiron raised his hand to silence him,

"I know what you want of me, and I know who they are. I am afraid I cannot just allow Crystal Moon crewmen onto my ship, former or not." He said and Nico started to argue but Leo beat him to it,

"Captain, with all due respect I think you really should consider this, they are fine men that have been through a lot, not to mention they have freed a man of ours when they could have stayed safe and left him there. We owe them, to say the least, Captain." Leo said and watched with searching eyes as the Captain's face turned thoughtful, looking for any sign of acceptance.

"Nico owes them, not us, Leo laddie," Big Jim reasoned and Leo shot him a foul look, surprisingly silencing him.

Captain Chiron sighed and rubbed his chin, considering it a little before pointing at Thalia, "That girl injured one of your crewmates, what do you have to say to that?" He asked Leo,

"She was being attacked and she did the only sensible thing there is to do; she defended herself." Leo answered, making the Captain smirk slightly before returning to his thoughtful gaze, watching the former enemies,

"Well if they're going to stay they need to do something on the ship, I won't let anybody laze around on my ship," He said and Leo grinned widely, exchanging a happy look with Nico before turning back to him,

"Beckendorf is really good at mechanics he can work with me, Thalia and Percy can work on deck, and Jason, he.." Leo stopped, thinking what Jason could probably do, his heart sinking as he found there was nothing the boy excels at sailing-wise.

"I can cook," Jason offered and Beckendorf immediately grinned,

"The man's a legend Captain, you'll be losing a great chef if you say no," He said with a soft smirk on his face,

Staying silent for a few more minutes, Captain Chiron observed the group before sighing and nodding, "Alright, I will put you on probation, but any suspicious move and you _will_ be locked up, am I clear?" He asked and all of them nodded, shouting an "Aye Aye Captain!"

Nodding in acknowledgement, Captain Chiron started to leave, "I want you all aboard in less than five minutes, we cannot delay our departure any longer," He said and they all nodded once again.

"Well that worked out better than I expected," Leo commented and Nico rolled his eyes,

"That's because I was the one talking, not you," Nico replied,

"Yeah right, all you did was stand there and stare at your boyfriend," Leo mocked and Nico smacked the back of his head, making the others laugh before they all headed up the gangplank, and finally onto the Dragon Wing.

* * *

><p>Leo flashed Beckendorf a smile as he walked into the Gear Room, sitting down before the controls and sighing heavily.<p>

"Busy day?" Beckendorf asked as he managed a few options that were fairly easy to him. Apparently, the Dragon Wing was differently built than the Crystal Moon, so he still couldn't understand a few options in the controls, but all in all he was okay, to say the least.

"Yeah.." Leo nodded, wiping at his forehead, "I can't believe they can destroy that much in the ship while I'm gone, I mean, it hasn't even been a month and they've already broken five doors, and made four holes in the hull. Good thing they're minor ones or else they would have gone down in sea." Leo said, sighing again and stretching in his seat, a few bones cracking in his back,

"Have you checked on Jason?" Beckendorf asked and Leo immediately grinned at the thought of the boy, nodding,

"Oh yea, the cook's very delighted that we brought him, and the fact that he does know about cooking makes it all the better!" Leo said, grinning even wider, shaking his head as he thought back to the boy's expression: Pure fear. But he couldn't blame the guy, the cook was a scary man on his best days.

Raising his eyebrow, Beckendorf smirked as Leo zoned out before snapping his fingers twice, "Ahoy Leo!" He yelled and the other boy jumped up in alarm, looking at him with alert eyes before blushing deeply, "Whatcha thinking about, you idiot?" He asked, watching Leo roll his eyes and look away,

"Nothing," Leo muttered before the radio above his head crackled, Captain Chiron's voice filling the room,

"Are we good to go, Leo?" He asked and Leo pressed a button as he replied,

"Beckendorf and I have got all the controls ready, just give me the go sign and we'll be up in no time," He waited a little for a reply before it came, short and simple,

"Go." Captain Chiron's voice ordered and Leo grinned widely, excited as he pulled down a control stick and pushed down another, Beckendorf doing the reverse with his own, and soon the room was filled with the sound of running gears clanking away.

* * *

><p>Thalia sighed as she rolled up another map into a tube and put it in the cupboard, stopping to crack her fingers before getting back to rolling up another map. The whole ordeal was boring, but the Captain had assigned it to her and she couldn't get on his bad side from the beginning or he'd kick her out, so she was stuck with stacking up maps. There was another guy –Ethan Nakamura, she thought- helping her out but he'd been requested by the Captain a second ago, so now she had absolutely no company, or more like, absolutely no people to harass.<p>

Smirking, she thought back on how he just gave her a dark look with his one eye and remained silent, trying to look uninterested, but Thalia could read people like a book, and she knew he was just biting back words. The ship rocked forward and she threw her hands in front of her as she fell forward on the table, stopping the collision. A rolled up map made its way to her on the floor, bumping into her foot, and she looked down, frowning. She hadn't seen that one. It looked different than the others somehow, and it must have been put somewhere else.

Bending down, she picked it up and placed it on the table, spreading it and staring at the various marked places on it, trying to figure out what it was about. Gasping, her eyes shifted from sight to sight, taking in all the various shapes and words written over them. It couldn't be, could it? She started to read what was written, but the door suddenly open and she rolled it up quickly, throwing it in with all the other maps and smiling widely at the incomer.

"What was that?" Ethan Nakamura asked and she smiled innocently at him,

"Oh, just some map," She replied with a shrug and looked him straight in the eye as he looked back into hers, knowing that if she looked away he'd be onto her.

"Well you seem to be done," He said after a long pause, "You can go look for something else to do," He finished and she nodded as she walked past him and out the door, headed back to the deck.

She had to find out what that map was.

* * *

><p>"Woah!" Jason exclaimed as the ship rocked underneath him, holding onto the stationary counter as the floor tilted before righting itself again. Cursing, he let go after a few minutes, sighing in relief and trying to calm his nerves. Nothing, it was nothing.<p>

"Never been on a ship before, laddie?" The cook, a man named Dionysus, asked. He was a chubby man with short black hair and small beady eyes, and he stank of sweat, though Jason couldn't blame him, the galley was like hell,

"N-no, this is my first time," He answered truthfully, feeling a bit ashamed at himself.

"Not'ing to be ashamed of, lad, I'm only asking to see if you want to use this," He said as he raised a bucket,

"What's that for?" Jason asked, eyes narrowing with confusion,

"'Ts in case you feel sick, motion sickness 'n all." Dionysus explained before handing the bucket to Jason, the young man thanking him hesitantly.

The two men sat in silence for a while before Dionysus moved his neck this way and that, cracking all the bones in it, making Jason cringe. He hated it when people cracked their bones, it looked _and_ sounded painful.

"So, laddie, what stuff exactly do you know how to cook?" He asked, trying to strike up conversation with the lad. He felt kind of bad for him, getting dragged along like that, the lad must have been feeling awful already. At least that Leo lad came by to see him, it seemed the lad was trying to take good care of him.

"Um, anything," Jason said, "I can make soups, I can make pastas, I can make turkeys, chicken, pork, whatever you want," He counted, thinking of all the various dishes his grandmother had taught him.

"Hmm," Dionysus nodded, looking impressed, "That is something, you would definitely be good help around here then, we've got big numbers and they all eat like pigs, mind you." He chuckled, showing off his yellow crooked teeth.

Again the two sat in silence before the man stood up again, making his way to the cupboard,

"What is it?" Jason asked, trying to see what he was doing, it was too early to start cooking, no?

"Where.. Where.. Where.." Dionysus muttered to himself as he clanked away in the cupboard, "Aha!" He exclaimed as he pulled out a bottle of wine that looked quite old, and Jason's face couldn't have looked more miserable.

His partner was a drunk.

Just his luck.

* * *

><p>Percy gripped the railing tightly on reflex as the ship rocked forward suddenly, gritting his teeth as another rock came again. In the short period he'd been on the ship already, he'd noted how it was different from the Crystal Moon; this one seemed to be not so extravagantly built like the Crystal Moon, and it had a different structure, but that could possibly be blamed on the fact that the maker of this ship was a man, whereas the maker of the Crystal Moon was a woman, therefore, more interested in design details than combat details.<p>

Of course, there was also the rough start just now. The Crystal Moon used to just rise gracefully, whereas this one seemed to push up into the air. It was dangerous, for a beginner, but he loved it anyway.

Looking back ahead he noticed Nico smirking at him and rolled his eyes, letting go of the railing and instead decided to watch the scenery change as the ship ascended, a soft smile touching his lips instinctively at the feel of being on a ship again. Now that he was looking past the few flaws of the Dragon Wing, Percy liked it more than the Crystal Moon as it coasted in the sky; it had such great power in its engines, you could feel the ship vibrate under your feet as it sailed.

"So?" Nico's voice came from beside him and he looked down at him with a smile,

"So?" He replied with a question and watched Nico's lips twitch,

"How do you like it so far?" Nico elaborated and Percy sighed, putting on a fake thoughtful face.

"Well, I did notice all the broken parts-"

"Leo fixed those, they don't count!"

"And the strange structure,"

"It's called unique,"

"There's also the awful launch,"

"It's a powerful launch, Percy,"

"All in all," Percy said slowly before smiling softly, "I love it." He watched Nico's face remain annoyed and chuckled softly, "What?"

"It's not an awful launch," Nico began, "It's just powerful, you shouldn't expect all ships to be as delicate as yours, Jackson," He narrowed his eyes and Percy laughed softly,

"I never said I expected it to be delicate, and the Crystal Moon is not my ship anymore, Nico." He reasoned and grinned as Nico blushed softly.

"Sorry," Nico muttered, hugging him quickly before letting go, "Anyway we should get to work, lots of stuff to do and not enough time to do it," He said, clapping his hands,

"What's our task?" Percy asked as he followed the younger boy, frowning a little at how serious the boy looked, must have been one hard task.

"Cleaning the toilets," Nico answered through gritted teeth, and Percy laughed.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

><p><strong>Well I hope you enjoyed that as much as I enjoyed writing it. It basically wrote itself. Of course, it does not include many events because I wanted to take it slow at first, but there is something important, and I hope you noticed it. And by important I mean <em>important<em>.**

**You might have noticed how Nico and his gang don't speak "pirate". Basically, I've made that the older sailors speak more like that than sailors that are about Nico's age, because they've been sailing for a pretty long time, whereas Nico's generation hasn't sailed for long. **

**Oh, I'm sorry, I know I said no more splitting the chapter into sections, but it was needed in this chapter because I want you to have an understanding of what they do exactly. Hopefully future chapters will not be this separated.**

**If you find any mistakes, and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to tell me.**

**Anyway, I hope you liked it, please review -because it's my birthday today?! :3- and please go check out my new fanfiction -Slender- , again, because it's my birthday. Let me wake up to something nice!**

**P.S. It really is my birthday, I'm not kidding. I swear.**

**See you later!**

**~Charlie-the-Spider**


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's note: Hey, sorry for the very late update, going to keep this note till the end of the chapter so, read then I'll talk. Enjoy!**

**Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.**

****_I don't own the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own the whereabouts, names of items and people, and some of the OC's that might show up every now and then._****

**The Beginning of a Discovery (Or the Moon and Stars)**

"You should really let somebody cover for you for a few hours Leo, you look like you might drop dead," Percy said as he stood behind Leo in the Gear Room, sweat running down his face; the temperature was quite high down there.

"I can handle it," Came Leo's weak reply. In all reality, Leo wished for nothing more than a meal and a catnap, but if Leo was possessive of anything, he was possessive of the Gear Room. He'd been working in it since the day he was accepted on the Dragon Wing a few years back, working with his previous partner Robert Scott -who had been at least a hundred years old, give or take a few years- and from then on he'd treated this room like he would his own child.

"No you can't, and you and I both know that. Beckendorf's already had his rest, let him take over and try to get a few hours of sleep, it can't hurt can it? You've already taught him everything," Percy reasoned,

_Not Everything_, Leo thought grimly as he sighed, "Percy I don't know-"

"Leo, _get out_," Percy insisted, gripping the boy's shoulder tightly, which made him wince; his arm muscles had already stiffened from gripping the controls for so long. There had been a slight storm before and they couldn't anchor the ship in the sea because it had a hurricane of its own, so they'd ended up battling against the winds from nearly 6 hours straight. After that, Beckendorf had looked like he might pass out in his seat, so Leo had sent him on his way to get some rest; he _did_ need help, but he couldn't afford that guy falling asleep on the control board and wrecking the whole system. From then on, Leo had worked another five hours, keeping the engines running while fixing the gears; some had lagged during the storm –all of them luckily being inferior gears- and he had needed to get them up and running before allowing the ship to go at a faster rate. He'd just finished and gotten the ship back on track so he _could_ actually take a nap now, but he was still concerned.

"Come _on_ Leo," Percy urged gently, a grin on his face. The guy was awesome, in Leo's opinion. He was strong and capable yet at the same time very nice and gentle, Leo could definitely see why his best friend had fallen for him.

Leo sighed again and nodded, starting to get out of his seat before freezing, frowning at Percy,

"Hold on, how did you get down here?" He asked. Surely the Captain didn't trust the guy enough to let him into the Gear Room.

Percy smiled innocently, angelically even, and Leo immediately knew he had snuck down there,

"I was just concerned and couldn't see anybody caring whether you're tired or not so I thought I'd come down and check up on you, and you're obviously tired and sleep deprived," Percy explained, making Leo groan,

"Percy, if anybody had seen you sneaking down here there would have been a lot of trouble, not even Nico's allowed to come here whenever he wants," He sighed and rubbed his face, "Go fetch Beckendorf so he could take my place-" He ordered,

"Right over here," Beckendorf's voice came, and although Leo hated getting help, right now Beckendorf's voice was music to his ears.

"Thank god you're here, come take over," He said urgently, getting off his seat _very_ slowly as his body took its time cracking every bone in its skeletal system.

Charles Beckendorf chuckled and came closer, shaking his head as he heard all the painful cracks. "Yes sir," He helped Leo up –who seemed to have developed cramps from sitting for so long- before taking his seat, extinguishing the overwhelming feeling that started to build as he looked at all the controls he had gotten to somewhat know the night before; he could manage on his own, besides, Leo really needed a break.

"Any orders?" He asked Leo, who chuckled tiredly,

"Just keep this ship up in the air and in one piece man," He smiled and patted Beckendorf's shoulder once before getting dragged out by an exasperate Percy,

"You know, maybe I should go back down there, just in case another storm comes along, yeah?" Leo said as he started to turn back to the steel door leading to the Gear Room, getting stopped by Percy's strong grip.

"_No_," Percy emphasized, "Go _sleep_ if you work any longer you might doom us all and send us crashing back down," He smirked at Leo's crushed expression,

"But-"

"No, end of discussion." Percy said sternly and dragged the protesting boy to the steps that led down to the dorm rooms, letting Leo direct him as to which was his before finally getting the boy to get in, change his clothes, and get into bed, smirking victoriously as the boy fumed.

"Now now Leo, get to sleep we'll wake you when it's dinnertime," Percy smiled innocently and Leo sent a death glare that was completely ignored as Percy turned and left the room, leaving him to his thoughts.

Leo lay there for a while, thinking of home and what his mother might be doing at that moment, then he thought a little about dinner which made him immediately thing of Jason, before switching to wondering whether Beckendorf was doing okay without him, then finally falling asleep and dreaming of his beloved Gear Room, with a tad bit of Jason in the dream.

* * *

><p>"So, Nico, care to tell what happened?" Captain Chiron said as he sat in his chair and sipped a little wine, sighing in content at the taste.<p>

"I-I told you I didn't really see anything, Captain," Nico said nervously. He wasn't sure _why_ he was nervous, it was like he was afraid of Chiron –which was impossible, Captain Chiron was very kind to him- but it might have been due to the fact that Captain Chiron was in an especially foul mood today, though Nico had no idea why.

"Not anything? Not even as they freed you? I understand you escaped in a not so discreet way, which means you had stepped on deck, correct?" Captain Chiron questioned as he put his now empty glass down, folding his arms on his chest and looking at Nico expectantly.

"Yes sir, I- we did but we were in such a hurry I didn't really look at anything, plus nothing looked out of the ordinary," Nico replied, wringing his hands nervously; he hated being questioned, even by people on his team,

"I see," Captain Chiron trailed off before sighing, "Well Nico, you're free to go but I do have one more question,"

"What's the question, Captain?" Nico asked,

"Did you tell Luke anything that goes on in this ship?" He asked and Nico had to stop and rewind back to that long, _long_ questioning Luke of the Iron Fist had put him through. It felt like it had happened centuries ago, when it hardly was a month ago, but he still didn't forget everything.

"No," He finally answered confidently and watched his Captain's lips turn into a small smile,

"You're a good lad, Nico," Captain Chiron said, watching Nico's lips draw up into a smile themselves, "Now off you go,"

Nico nodded and quickly stood up, walked to the door, then left, shutting it softly before sighing heavily in relief. He took a few calming breaths before starting to head back to the other side of deck, where a few minor damages had affected the ship. The men and him were trying to fix it to help Leo with the ship, but he knew eventually they'd have to tell either Leo or Beckendorf to come fix it, since they were all obviously failing at fixing it.

"Not done yet?" He asked rhetorically as he kneeled next to one of his preferred crewmates, Nick Clarkson, who was trying to keep a piece of wood from falling using a nail and a hammer, but he seemed to be failing miserably.

Nick grunted, "five years of working on this ship, and I still can't hammer a nail. How ironic is that, Nico?" He asked as he chuckled, trying –and failing- to hammer the nail in again.

"Here, let me try," Nico offered and Nick handed him the hammer and nail before standing back a little to give him room.

Nico inspected the piece of wood, studying it, and noticed Nick's mistake: He had been trying to hammer in the nail at a somewhat hard place, which was why it couldn't really go all the way in. Smirking, he put the nail on another spot and brought down the hammer, pushing it all the way in and smiling victoriously.

"_That_ is how you hammer a nail," He said as he handed Nick his hammer back, feeling pretty proud of himself.

"Damn straight!" Nick replied before slinging his arm around Nico's small shoulders, ruffling his hair, "Not bad, laddie," Nico smiled as he shrugged off Nick's arm due to the fact that he smelled too much of sweat and Nico didn't want to die of oxygen poisoning.

"Well, I guess Leo's emergency maintenance lessons are finally paying off," He laughed before yelping loudly as he was pulled from behind, panicking for only a second before his back collided into a familiar, strong chest.

"Percy," He said and turned around, smiling at the taller man, "Where did you go off to?" He continued, wishing he could give Percy a small kiss but all his crewmates were already watching them too closely.

"I went to convince Leo to sleep, that guy looked near death," Percy said, leaning down and kissing Nico softly, making the boy blush deeply and pull away,

"Not. In front. Of people." He hissed at Percy, his face turning redder by the second.

"Why not? I mean it's already obvious we're together so why hide it? Right guys?!" He raised his voice, some men shouting 'Aye' at him, others just glaring or rolling their eyes.

Nico huffed and pushed past Percy, walking quickly in the direction of the other side of deck so he'd get away from both Percy and the crewmen, feeling very embarrassed. He didn't need them teasing him even more about how he was.

Percy frowned and sighed, following behind, "Nico? Nico! Come on don't get upset at _that_!" He sighed again, following the boy until they reached the more empty part of the ship before gripping his wrist, pulling him back gently, "Nico." He said as the other boy stopped in his tracks.

"Just leave me alone Percy," Nico said bitterly, not looking at his lover.

"It was just a kiss , nobody cares about it!" Percy argued,

"I care!" Nico shouted as he turned to face him, glaring at him, "I care, okay? I-I don't need them mocking me even more for kissing another man!"

"But, they'll forget! I promise!" Percy groaned, trying to pull Nico into an embrace but getting pushed away gently,

"Look I- I just want to be alone right now," Nico said, smiling weakly at Percy before pulling his wrist away, walking towards the dorms and walking through the corridor, wanting to reach his room but getting stopped by a voice calling his name.

"Leo? What are you doing up?" He asked as he walked to Leo's doorway, where his best friend was standing with his hair standing up, wearing black shorts with pockets and a plain white shirt, both garments featuring a small logo proclaiming 'Adidas' on them. Apparently, that trademark was pretty famous a long time ago. He had stolen money from his father and bought that for Leo from a shop that sold rare items that no longer existed. He'd gotten beaten up for it, but it had been totally worth it.

"Had a nightmare about the ship crashing," Leo said and Nico fought off the urge to roll his eyes, "Have you been crying?" Leo asked, touching Nico's face.

"No," Nico snorted and sniffed, wiping the tears off quickly, "Of course not." He gave Leo his best smile, which wasn't very convincing, before sighing heavily, "I had a sort-of argument with Percy is all," He explained, watching Leo's eyes softening and that made him feel a bit better. He loved that about Leo, his capability of knowing what Nico needed from the first line.

"Come in," Leo said, smiling gently at Nico and opening the door wider, letting the boy walk in and sit on his berth, sitting next to him, "What happened exactly?"

"Well," Nico started and told the story –laughing at Leo's expression when he told him the men were trying to fix the ship- feeling gradually lighter and better as he shared it with Leo, who in turn interrupted every few seconds to make a comment or crack a joke, making him laugh hard every single time.

Leo really was the best best-friend ever.

* * *

><p>Jason stepped into the dining hall, where some men were already gathering for dinner, and walked towards the table with a pot full of soup in hand, placing it in the middle before going back to the kitchen and getting another pot filled with different stuff. He walked from the kitchen to the dining hall then back again until he thought he could do it with his eyes closed, before finally finishing all the dishes he and Dionysus had made. He'd expected cooking with Dionysus to be a challenge, what with the man being drunk most of the time and in a bad mood the whole of it, but it had actually been fun; Dionysus was fully aware while cooking, and he was damn good at it, plus he was truly funny when he was feeling less moody.<p>

Going back to the kitchen, Jason went to sit in his usual seat but Dionysus' voice stopped him,

"Hey kid, what do you t'ink you're doing? Go out there and eat!" He exclaimed and Jason raised an eyebrow,

"I'm allowed to sit with them?" He asked in confusion,

"Of course you are! You're a part of tis ship just as much as tey are!" Dionysus chuckled as the frown on Jason's face lifted, revealing a wide smile, "Go on, laddie,"

"Thank you!" Jason exclaimed before running out of the kitchen, bumping into Thalia,

"Woah, what's gotten you so pumped up?" She asked, obviously in a bad mood. Jason wasn't sure what was wrong with his luck, it was always giving him moody people to deal with during the day.

"Um, I'm just glad I'm allowed to get out of the kitchen," He laughed, watching Thalia roll her eyes but smile softly,

"Well come on, I was just going to dinner, you could sit with me." She said and Jason nodded, both of them making their way back to the dining hall,

"So where are the others anyway?" He asked, hoping they weren't too busy; he wasn't exactly excited about hanging with Thalia, she was cool, but she wasn't that nice to him.

"Well Beckendorf's still in the Gear Room, I don't really know if he's coming to dinner, and Percy went to wake Leo and look for Nico, they've had this lovers' quarrel or something and he wants to make up with him," She relayed the details in a bored tone and Jason frowned. Sure she was usually not-so-friendly, but today she seemed a bit.. preoccupied, really preoccupied.

"Everything okay? You seem distracted," He asked, concern being his first nature, even with people who mocked him a lot.

Thalia nodded, "Yeah, it's nothing, you'll hear about it when the others come," She smiled at him, which stopped Jason in his tracks for a few seconds. She was _definitely_ distracted because Thalia didn't _just_ _smile_ at him.

Sighing, he followed her, hoping the others would arrive soon so he'd be saved from her sudden change of behavior.

* * *

><p>Percy knocked on Leo's door before opening it, expecting to find the boy sleeping in his bed but instead finding him dancing clumsily in the small empty space in his room, and finding his supposedly upset lover sitting on the berth and laughing at Leo. He cleared his throat and both boys froze,<p>

"Dinner's ready," He stated as he grinned at Leo, who was frozen with one foot halfway in the air and the other on tip toes. That boy never ceased to surprise him.

"Oh. Well damn, I was giving Nico quite the show, right Nico?" Leo grinned at Nico who laughed softly,

"He was trying to dance ballet," Nico explained to Percy, whose eyebrows flew up in surprise, "He's weird like that," Nico added, watching Percy smirk,

"I think I've already figured that out," Percy said, "I bet you didn't sleep, right?" He asked Leo, who was pulling new clothes to wear from his closet,

"No, I had a nightmare and then your little boyfriend came here looking for comfort," Leo grinned, "Anyway, if you both don't mind, I'd like to change and I don't want your perverted eyes looking me all over,"

"I've seen you like, a thousand times before," Nico rolled his eyes as he slipped off the berth,

"And each time you felt even more lust, right?" Leo asked, laughing as Nico slapped his shoulder, "No I know, but seriously, get out," He finally said, a smile on his face as Nico nodded and left, Percy behind him.

"Sometimes I wonder how you two could possibly be friends," Percy confessed as he leaned against the wall with Nico next to him, smiling at the shorter boy,

"You're not alone," Nico laughed softly, the laugh dying down to a small smile, "He's a great friend though, the best, actually," He said, looking up at Percy before looking back away, not wanting to meet his eyes for long. He still didn't forget that he hadn't apologized yet.

"I can see that," Percy said and opened his mouth to say something but got interrupted by Leo's door flying open, revealing Leo with his leg raised in the air,

"You two were discussing how to come in and harass me weren't you?" He asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion, making Percy laugh.

"Leo will you please stop kicking that door? You're going to break it someday," Nico rolled his eyes as he pushed himself off the wall to stand straight,

"I have broken it already, and I've fixed it too, so you can stop worrying about the door and make up with your boyfriend," Leo said before walking away quickly, leaving Percy and Nico alone.

Neither spoke for a bit, thinking of what to say before Percy opened his mouth again to speak,

"Nico I-" He started but was interrupted with Nico's finger on his lips,

"Later, okay?" Nico asked and he nodded reluctantly, watching Nico's hand fall back down and they both started making their way up to the dining hall.

They reached it at the same time as Beckendorf, who was sweaty and smelled of grease, but still mustered a wide smile upon seeing them,

"Hey guys!" He said and both of them smiled softly,

"Hey Beckendorf," They both said at the same time, laughing softly at that.

"What are you doing out of the Gear Room man? Leo'll have your head if he sees you," Percy asked as he continued walking with Beckendorf on his right and Nico on his left, watching Beckendorf smirk cleverly,

"Come on Percy, this ship may be old and run down but it still has auto pilot," Beckendorf said and they both laughed,

"It's _not_ run down," Nico said, glaring pointedly at Beckendorf, who in turn raised his hands in surrender,

"My bad, don't hurt me now, Neeks," He said, sighing inwardly in relief as the boy laughed softly before they reached the hall, making their way to where their three friends sat, eating and talking.

"Charles!" Jason greeted and Beckendorf smiled,

"Hey Jason," He replied as he sat down next to Thalia,

"Beckendorf what are you doing out of the Gear Room? Are you crazy?!" Leo practically shouted at Charles Beckendorf, a panicked look in his eyes,

"Chill man, it's on autopilot," Percy nodded at Leo like it made it all better and Leo's eyes widened,

"But autopilot's-" Leo started but was cut off,

"Broken, I know, well, not anymore." Beckendorf grinned and watched Leo's expression loosen up slowly,

"Come on Leo, if it wasn't working we'd be crashing already, no?" Nico reasoned as he moved to sit next to the young mechanic, smirking at him,

"Oh. Right." Leo blushed and took another spoonful of soup, "This soup's amazing, Jason," He complimented the man as he took another spoonful, the second spoonful tasting even more heavenly than the first.

"Thanks," Jason said, "It's grandma's traditional soup recipe, thought the crew could use a little bit of traditional soup," He explained and they all nodded before starting to eat silently.

"Thalia you haven't spoken at all today," Beckendorf noted, snapping the girl back to reality,

"Oh, sorry, just thinking," She again smiled, sending chills down Jason's spine again.

"Woah, Thalz smiling, what's wrong with the world?" Percy joked, earning a punch to the shoulder from her,

"Shut up, Jackson." She said, rolling her eyes and dipping a piece of bread into the soup before nibbling on it.

Beckendorf cleared his throat, "What are you thinking _about_?" He asked. Thalia sighed and put down her food,

"Okay, so yesterday I was rolling up all the maps, right?" They all nodded, "And I stumbled upon one with a lot of places marked on it and it seemed pretty important, but I got interrupted by Ethan Nakamura and had to pack it. I think it's important," She said in a low tone, looking around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping.

Everybody stayed silent, then noticed Nico's frown and Leo's wide eyes, raising eyebrows at them,

"What, is it important?" Jason finally voiced the question that was hanging unasked,

"I-I think so," Nico said slowly, making calculations in his head. He was never told what it was, but he'd heard a lot of the men that did know talking about it.

"Yes, yes it is but you shouldn't go around looking at stuff like that, Thalia, unless you're trying to get kicked off or imprisoned on purpose," Leo added, looking around consciously now.

"But what is it?" Percy asked Leo, exchanging confused looks with his other four friends before looking back at Leo.

"Nothing you need to worry about. But just stay out of it, Thalia, you'll figure it out soon enough anyway," Leo answered, continuing to eat silently.

Everybody quieted down for a bit after that, each in their own thoughts, a few trying to break the silence but it was obvious that nobody was in the spirit anymore, so they all finished eating and headed back to their stations.

* * *

><p>"Nico," Percy said as he came up from behind Nico, who was standing on the edge of the bow, looking down at the faraway ground.<p>

"Nico-" He started to repeat again as he stopped next to him, getting cut off mid-sentence as Nico turned to him and cupped his cheek, pressing his lips on his as he kissed him slowly, but deeply. Percy watched Nico's eyes flutter shut, then shut his own, wrapping an arm around the shorter boy's waist and kissing back with even more love.

Nico's whole body seemed to buzz in excitement as he kissed Percy, buzzing even more as Percy returned the kiss with even more passion, and soon the two were stuck to each other, kissing and breaking away and kissing again, as if their lives depended on it. They remained like that, locked into fiery, passionate kisses, neither aware of how long they'd been like that, both only aware of each other's lips, until their kisses died down to small, soft pecks, before finally dying down enough for them to break away for much needed air.

"I guess that means we're cool?" Percy asked breathlessly, making Nico laugh softly,

"I guess so," Nico replied, smiling softly up at the man he'd so suddenly loved, and Percy smiled back, leaning down to capture his lips yet again, kissing him lovingly in the quiet of the night, with only the stars and the looming moon as witnesses.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>

**Hey guys, I can't even apologize enough. I've wanted to write this chapter since the last update, but I just finished mid-terms, and I'm still working on a lot of projects, so I couldn't really type this up until now, which is the first free weekend I've had in a long time. Still, this is a bad excuse, so, I'm really sorry and I'll try to update once again by the end of this week, I owe you that.**  
><strong>Anyway, first of all, I want to clarify that Leo's just very very possessive of his station, which is why he doesn't trust Beckendorf, so it's not a matter of hate. Second of all, I know I promised to stop cutting my chapters up into parts, but I think this way you get to see the everything going on at the same time, which is pretty good, plus it'll allow you to get to know the other characters some more, since they are pretty important. I've been told this chapter isn't very interesting, so I'm sorry if that's the case, I'm aware that only a few things happen, but that's just how this story is going to go for now, unless you want it so summarized that it ends in 2-3 chapters. I hope that's not the case. Third of all, Leo had a bigger share of this chapter than everybody else, I think. Sorry, it's either that Rick Riordan's affected me by including Leo a lot in the latest book, or I'm just loving Leo way too much. Or both.. Fourth of all, I'm not sure if the last few 1000 words seem a bit rushed, but if they are, I'm sorry, I got very distracted at that point and couldn't write very well. Uh, I think that's about it, keep your eyes on things in chapters, a lot of stuff will start to develop –it's not obvious but it will happen- and I apologize again for the very late update. I hope you enjoyed this, please review!<strong>  
><strong>~Charlie-the-Spider<strong>

**P.S. I'm sorry if that ending was too cheesy for your taste, it's just that, in the end, we're all here for the pairing right? :P**

**P.P.S. I noticed that my last update wasn't very well edited, so I'm going to fix that, and I'll be fixing the earlier chapters soon, just to let you know in case you're bothered by any of that.**

** Perico forever: Oh my god, you cannot imagine how much I'd laughed when I read your review. I remember I was in a foul mood and it made me feel a lot better, so, thank you.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.**

****_I don't own the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own the whereabouts, names of items and people, and some of the OC's that might show up every now and then._****

****Warning: I put shit, okay? I'm kidding. Well I did put shit, but if you're sensitive towards that then you're probably reading in the wrong category.****

**Colors & Suspicions**

Nico's eyes cracked open and he groaned in annoyance as his covers were pulled off of him,

"What do you _want_?" He whined, not bothering to see who had interrupted his sleep as he grabbed his pillow and threw it at the attacker,

"Ow! That was uncalled for!" The attacker cried as they dropped the covers and covered their eye with their hand, "And in the eye too, I wonder why I'm even in love with you,"

"Percy!" Nico cried out in surprise as he recognized the voice and jumped up laughing, "Oh my god I'm so sorry I thought you were Leo!"

"You abuse Leo like that? What are you?" Percy asked, keeping his hand on his eye as he leaned in to accept a peck from Nico,

"I'm sorry, let me see," Nico smiled apologetically and moved Percy's hand out of the way, opening Percy's eye widely –but gently- with the tips of his thumb and index finger, looking into it,

"Will I survive?" Percy asked as he watched Nico, a soft smile coming to his lips as Nico laughed,

"Yeah, barely." He laughed along with Percy, his laugh dying down to a soft smile once again, "I'm sorry," He apologized as he cupped Percy's cheek,

"Apology accepted," Percy returned and kissed him sweetly then pulled away, "But seriously, do you actually abuse Leo like that?" He frowned at Nico, whose eyes showed an evil glint,

"No, of course not!" Nico feigned innocence then laughed at the look Percy gave him, "Okay, okay, I do but only when he's being annoying,"

"And when he's waking you up," Percy added,

"That comes under the category of annoying, Percy my dear," Nico said and grinned widely as Percy shook his head,

"And I thought you were innocent," Percy teased, making Nico pout, but before Nico could reply a new voice joined theirs,

"Percy, I'm sorry to be the one telling you this but if you thought Nico's innocent then you don't know him at all," Leo Valdez's slightly sleepy voice came before the boy appeared fully with a grin on his face,

Percy snorted, "As if, I know Nico, I can read him like a book," He said smugly, smirking at Leo, who smirked back,

"Oh yeah, then tell me; what's his favorite color?" Leo returned, watching Percy frown before Nico interrupted,

"Okay guys, guys! Let's have this very fun conversation about who knows me better later, okay? Is breakfast ready?" He asked Leo, who turned his attention to him without losing the smirk,

"It is –in fact- ready, so get your half naked ass dressed and come up there before we finish the food," Leo replied, pointing his tongue at Nico, who rolled his eyes, and running out before coming back and pointing his tongue at Percy, who pointed his tongue back, before finally leaving.

"Real mature, Percy," Nico slapped Percy's arm as he got off the bed –a slight blush on his face as he realized he was, in fact, half naked -as he clad in only boxer shorts- and got fresh working clothes out along with new underwear.

"What? He started it-" Percy started to argue but was greeted with Nico's lips silencing him,

"I don't care, now get out because I need to get dressed," Nico replied, starting to usher Percy out,

"But I'm supposed to be allowed to see you naked by now!" Percy argued again but was pushed out, "Hey!"

Nico sighed and shut the door, slipping off his boxers when a knock came to the door, "Yes, Percy?" He sighed exasperatedly,

"One question," Percy said through the door and Nico fought off the urge to roll his eyes,

"Shoot," He replied, boredom obvious in his voice as he slipped into his pants, opening a drawer and getting socks out,

"What _is_ your favorite color?" Percy mumbled making Nico bite his lower lip to stop himself from laughing,

"It's…" Nico stopped to think about his answer a little. A long time ago, he would have answered with dark brown, the color of his mother's eyes, but now he found it wasn't that that came to his mind when Percy asked the question, it was…

"Your eye color, Percy," Nico replied softly as he went back to getting dressed, a soft blush spread across his pale olive colored cheeks,

"Oh… Cool," Percy replied, a smile hinted in his voice as he finally walked away, his footsteps audible from Nico's room, and Nico smiled and shook his head before sighing heavily, mulling over the color of Percy's eyes.

Yep, they were definitely his favorite eye color.

* * *

><p>Thalia walked out of the dining hall after breakfast, trying to keep her face expressionless as to not give herself away as she made her way to the map room, hoping against hope that nobody was there at that moment; she was determined to find out what that map was.<p>

She knew Leo had said to just drop the subject, that she'd know soon enough anyway, but if Thalia had a flaw it was her immense dislike of being the one in the dark. She had to know anything and everything. Thalia knew that wasn't such a great thing, and many people said it was why nobody really fell in love with her –which she returned with a punch to the face and a not so PG-13 insult- but she couldn't help it, so she had to love it.

Looking right and left, then behind her, she walked cautiously to the door of the map room, turning to scan the area once again before grabbing the handle and walking in, shutting the door as quickly and silently as she could, before turning back to the room.

It was messy again –which bothered her slightly; she'd worked hard on tidying it- and the map was nowhere to be seen. Growling in frustration, she sighed and approached the table, sifting through the multiple maps and studying each one quickly. She should have expected that it wouldn't be _just there_; it was definitely an important map, not even a fool would have left it lying around casually.

Sighing, she stopped, reminding herself that she didn't have too much time and studied the place, trying to figure out where she would have put it if she had a reason to hide it.

Thalia smirked, it wasn't too hard. She walked up to the bookshelf that held some scrolls, taking them all out quickly before knocking on its side, a hollow sound audible. She smirked even wider as she put her nails at the tiny opening –that couldn't be noticed unless a person was looking for it- and pushed it back, making it slide back to the wall, revealing the map she was looking for, rolled up and tightly tied.

Releasing a silent 'Yes!', Thalia took it out before closing the secret cabinet, taking the map to the table and spreading it, finally able to see what it contained.

Which was nothing. Frowning, Thalia spread it as far as it could, her eyes widening in disbelief. She was sure that was the map, it even had the same old smell, but what was wrong with it? Why wasn't it showing anything?

Thalia rolled it up and spread it back again, then spread it the other way, then tried to see if it had some kind of layer covering it, but no, there was nothing.

Cursing, she left it at the table and went back to the cabinet, trying to open it and see if the original map was there, but before she could look, the door flew open to reveal Ethan Nakamura, Big Jim, and Chiron.

"Shit," She hissed as she turned to face them, smiling brightly, "Hi, I just thought I could clean up a little-"

"Don't bullshit us, _Thalia_," Ethan Nakamura said her name mockingly, making her grit her teeth, "We know what you're doing here."

Thalia lost her courage for a moment, sagging, before straightening up strongly again, smirking, "Okay then, what was I doing?"

"You were searching for the map," He replied evenly,

"You can't prove that-"

"Well you have the replacement spread out, and the cupboard open. If you were here only to clean you wouldn't have tried to look for a secret cupboard now, would you?" He reasoned smugly and all her argument was lost, they were onto her.

"I am greatly ashamed, Thalia, that I had actually trusted you," Chiron said, his usually kind eyes hard, "I should have known that any Crystal couldn't possibly be trustworthy,"

"But-"

"No buts, you betrayed us," Chiron interrupted gravely,

"I was only curious! You can't pin that on me, and I'm not a Crystal anymore, I swear! Please, let me talk." She begged, her eyes sad and pleading. She could take being punished herself, but she couldn't take them punishing her three friends, Jason and Leo for her mistakes.

Chiron stayed silent for a bit, studying her with his intelligent blue eyes, then nodded,

"We will meet up tonight at 7 PM with all your friends present to discuss this matter, but until then, you will remain locked into your room with a guard on your door, do I make myself clear?" He asked and Thalia nodded hastily, "Good. Ethan, escort her to her room and assign somebody to guard it,"

Ethan Nakamura smirked at her as he walked up to her, pulling her hands behind her back and pushing her out of the door,

"Girl," Chiron said and Ethan stopped to let Thalia hear it. She raised her lowered head to face the man, "I am not doing this for you," He began, "I am doing this because I am the better man," Thalia nodded and Ethan pushed her again, escorting her to her room as she felt a heavy weight drop on her chest as she thought of her friends. Unless they could reason their way out of it tonight, they were in for a lot of trouble. Sighing, she dropped her head in shame, fighting off the urge to hit something;

She had betrayed them all.

Ggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

Leo yawned as he worked at the Gear Room with Beckendorf, who was busy fixing stuff while Leo steered. It was a boring day, completely eventless, and he was slowly getting sleepy due to that. He did sleep at night but –as usual- was jerked awake by the Captain because 'He had duties and couldn't neglect them, even for pressing matters like sleep'. He sighed and sat back in his very uncomfortable seat, looking through the windshield –that had been very dirty before but was cleaned by a very tidy Beckendorf- as he thought. Sometimes he hated his job. Leo hated admitting it but it was an exhausting job, even with somebody to help him. He didn't want to tire Beckendorf out by making him work full-time like he did, but sometimes he got the urges to just drop all the work on the guy and go to bed.

"If you want you can drop the work and go to bed, I can handle it," Beckendorf said and Leo jerked upright, a bit surprised that the other man had just practically read his mind before laughing softly,

"No it's okay, I think I can make it through the day," He assured as he sank back into his seat, internally slapping himself in the face for not accepting the offer, but he truly couldn't be mean and lay all the work on Beckendorf.

"You sure? You've been tired lately I'm afraid you might collapse," Beckendorf said with a smile on his face as he cleaned the grease off a machine in the corner,

"That's broken," Leo said as he frowned at him, wondering what was wrong with the guy.

"I know," Beckendorf said, "I just like my workplace somewhat tidy," Leo gave him a strange look, "It's a habit of mine," He assured, looking down in embarrassment.

Leo smirked; who would have expected it, the big and bulky Charles Beckendorf, a clean freak? It needed to get out.

"Don't you dare tell anyone," Beckendorf warned and Leo's eyes widened, turning quickly to face him,

"How the hell did you know I'm thinking that?!" Leo shouted, alarmed,

"You're a lot easier to read than you think, Leo," Beckendorf laughed and Leo's eyes slowly died down to sadness, then anger,

"You don't know me," He said bitterly then turned his seat around, facing the windshield as he pretended to fix some controls when really he was trying to hold back hurt tears. He didn't even know why he was crying, he just was.

Beckendorf looked at the boy's seat and sighed, "Leo I'm sorry, you know I didn't mean that-"

"Look let's just get back to work okay?" Leo said coldly, making the older man sigh,

Leo truly was a mystery. A mystery that Charles Beckendorf was determined to unravel.

* * *

><p>Jason was clanking and chattering away with Dionysus in the galley when one of the crewmen came in, interrupting Dionysus' supposedly exciting story,<p>

"What is ze matter, lad? You are interrupting a perfectly good story," Dionysus asked, annoyance clear in his voice,

The man gave him a weak salute,

"Sorry ol' man, the Cap'n asked for the laddie here,"

"My name is Jason, and why has he asked for me?" Jason said, an eyebrow raising questioningly,

"I dunno, neither do I care, so just go there, aint got all day, laddie boy," The man shrugged before turning around and ducking out of the small galley door,

"Should I go?" Jason asked Dionysus, who had a sour look on his face,

"Aye, aye laddie, go, I'll handle it here," He said with a surprisingly calm tone and Jason smiled softly, taking off his apron and hanging it on the rusted hanger on the wall before ducking out the door the man had just exited, walking up the stairs to the higher floor, where the Captain's cabin was situated.

Jason truly had no idea why he was called there. It wasn't like he was an important person on the ship –he just fed the men really- but he was hoping it wasn't anything bad, he was just starting to like his job here and he wouldn't like having to leave yet another place.

Knocking on the door, he cracked it open, looking inside to find the Captain seated on his table with his 'friends'; Percy, Nico, Leo, Beckendorf, and, well, Thalia.

"You asked for me, Si- Captain?" He corrected himself quickly, still not used to the whole terminology. Frankly, he couldn't get why it mattered whether he called a man 'Sir' or 'Captain', in the end it contained respect in it, no?

"Indeed, lad. Come on in so we could begin," Chiron said, his voice a lot firmer than the last time Jason had heard him speak to them, making Jason feel a bit queasy. Jason came in and slowly took the empty seat between Beckendorf and Leo, looking at the Captain,

"What's the matter, Captain?" Percy asked almost instantly, not one to wait.

"The matter, lad, is that your partner here has –how should I put this- betrayed our trust," Chiron began, gesturing at Thalia who looked down in shame. Percy started to speak but Chiron raised his hand, "She tried to steal a very important map from the map room, a map only a spy would be looking for,"

Leo groaned and slapped his forehead before resting his head in his hands; he'd told her not to go snooping around and she'd done the exact opposite.

"Captain, with all due respect you might have misunderstood-" Nico began,

"What's there to misunderstand, Nico? She was caught red-handed trying to take it, or are you calling me a dimwit that does not know the difference between a curious child and an obvious spy?" Chiron asked giving the boy a warning look and Nico immediately looked away.

"O-of course not, Captain," He mumbled, looking down at his hands that were now wrapping and unwrapping around each other, a habit he'd always done when faced by authority figures.

"What was the map, Captain?" Beckendorf asked curiously, wondering how important a map could possibly be to cause so much trouble,

"I will not speak of the map in front of you; you have proved yourself untrustworthy, and I will not share information with you until further notice,"

"Why did you do it, Thalia?" Leo asked in a low tone, his eyes sad and pained; he didn't want his friends to go through the whole procedure for traitors on the Dragon Wing. It wasn't an easy one.

"I wanted to know what it was," Thalia mumbled then looked up at Chiron, "I truly am not a traitor, Captain. I was simply curious, and got more curious because of all the secrecy." She said quickly, trying to hold eye contact with the Captain long enough for him to believe her.

Chiron thought a little, staring into her electric blue eyes then simply broke the contact, lacing his hands together and resting his chin on them, humming softly to himself as he stared at the table.

"Captain?" Leo asked cautiously then the door opened, revealing Ethan Nakamura and Big Jim, who walked in casually, Big Jim kicking the door with his foot before sitting down, Ethan sitting two seats away from him as to not die from his horrible smell.

"Ah, Ethan, Big Jim, so glad you could join us." Chiron said, a calm smile on his face,

"The pleasure is all ours, Captain," Ethan Nakamura smirked, his visible eye glinting mischievously. Chiron narrowed his eyes at him, studying his sinister features carefully, quirking an eyebrow as the man looked directly into his eye, challenging him- no, taunting him.

Big Jim cleared his throat, somewhat breaking the icy atmosphere that had taken control of the table while they shared their deadly eye contact, "What are you going to do about those, Cap'n?" He asked, gesturing at the younger people at the table,

"Ah yes, I almost forgot," Chiron said, shooting Ethan a distrusting look, "I wanted your opinion on that, actually,"

"I think you should kick 'em all out, Cap'n-" Big Jim began but was cut off quickly by none other than Ethan Nakamura,

"I think you shouldn't worry about them at all, Captain," He said lazily, a smirk playing across his lips, "They're not your biggest worry,"

"Oh, is that so, Ethan?" Chiron asked with an edge to his voice, gritting his teeth as Ethan chuckled and nodded,

"Yes, my dear Captain, they're nothing but little curious kids, there is somebody else you need to worry about," Ethan smirked more, and if it was possible Chiron's eyes took on an angrier quality. The two remained like that for a while, Chiron's eyes calculating furiously while Ethan smiled in amusement, until finally Chiron sighed, looking at Thalia,

"Since I trust Ethan," Chiron said slowly, shooting Ethan a look again, "I will not punish you, neither will I make you walk the plank, but listen now, and listen carefully, when I say that I will not be so merciful next time. If this happens again, you will all be walking the plank, and yes even Leo and Nico. Got it?" He threatened and they all nodded with a mumbled, 'Aye, Aye Captain,'

"Now since you've been so curious about the map, it is only right that I tell you, as long as you swear upon your honor that you will not divulge this information I am about to give to anybody," Chiron conditioned, looking each and every one of them in the eye.

Beckendorf looked at all his companions, then turned to the man, nodding, "I speak on behalf of all of us when I say we swear upon our honors that we will not divulge this to any soul," They all nodded, Nico drumming his fingers impatiently. He only knew a little about the map, and he couldn't wait to find out all about it, it meant he'd know a lot more than other men.

Chiron nodded and sighed, calculating what he was supposed to say for a few moments then looked up at them, "That map is a treasure map," He said simply, his eyes shifting from one face to another to take in their reactions.

"Wait, that's it?" Jason asked as a stretched silence passed between the people in the room, making Chiron chuckle softly.

"No, lad, it is not it, but it is basically what people would call, a treasure map,"

"But there's more," Leo said in a low tone, looking up at them, "It's the path to…" He faltered, looking at Chiron hesitantly, who nodded and urged him to keep going, "It's the path to discovering all knowledge," He finished and they all stared at him,

"What do you mean?" Thalia finally asked and Leo sighed softly, rubbing his face,

"How should I say this?" He contemplated a little, "Remember these history lessons we took when were twelve during our final year? The ones that said that the earlier people knew so much, and that was what brought their demise?"

Percy shrugged, "I never paid attention in class, but I do know that the earlier people knew a lot. They were also called the _makers_ in my father's stories, though I don't know why,"

"That is correct," Chiron nodded, "They are commonly known as the makers now because they had made and built so many things, one of the things they built was the land we live in currently,"

Leo nodded and continued, "Of course, nobody knows how they did most of the things they did, since they hid all their knowledge somewhere safe and far from humans. My only guess is that they did that to protect us; their lives were destroyed by their achievements, and they must have wanted to protect us from all of it.

"Still, they left us a map. A map to find this knowledge. This map is the one you found, Thalia, but it had come with a note. A warning note." Leo paused to take a breath and Chiron noticed that Ethan had straightened up in his seat, obviously interested.

"Would you like me to continue, Leo?" Chiron asked and Leo nodded. It wasn't that he wasn't excited, actually he was most excited about this particular part, but he knew that Chiron could explain the note much better than himself.

"As Leo said, the note was actually a warning. It was written very elegantly, the neatest handwriting I've ever seen in all truth, and in it the person mentioned what the map led to: It led to a great treasure with great value, but in the treasure there was a greater treasure, there was a book. This book contained all the knowledge from their days, from the discovery of electricity to what the man called _nuclear bombs_-"

"What's that?" Percy asked in confusion and Chiron raised a hand,

"I truly do not know, boy, but it sounds like a powerful thing. Either way, the person also explained what had happened to civilization thanks to all that knowledge, and then warned whoever found the map to not go seeking this treasure, because it would only bring pain and misfortune to humans."

"Then why are you seeking it, Captain?" Nico asked, frowning in confusion, mimicking his lover's expression.

"Because," Chiron smiled, "I was the one who had found the map. And I made it my responsibility to find this treasure, if only to protect it from the likes of Luke and other power-hungry beings. We have been looking for a very long time, but this map is very old, and very vague, and it has led us to several wrong places over the years, but…" He trailed off, a smile on his face,

"But?" Beckendorf asked eagerly, eyes wide in amazement as he thought about all the knowledge that could be obtained from that treasure. Chiron smiled wider as he unlaced his hands,

"But we have finally found the place, Leo and I. After a long, _long_ search, we have found that the treasure is located," Chiron smirked and let Leo say it,

"Mount. Ghira," Leo said with a victorious grin on his face, clasping hands with Chiron who shared a laugh with him.

Nobody noticed Ethan Nakamura's smirk.

* * *

><p>"Captain Luke, someone's here for you," A man said as he opened Captain Luke's door slightly, enough to poke his head in.<p>

Captain Luke of the Iron Fist sighed and turned his fancy black seat around, scowling at the man who had just interrupted his deep thinking,

"Who is it?"

"He says he's here from the Dragon Wing and that he's got very important information for you," The man said quickly, unease showing in his voice.

Captain Luke's scowl slowly unraveled, turning into a smirk and he nodded, "Let him in, let him in." He said calmly. The man quickly scampered away, leaving Luke to his thoughts for only a few moments before a hooded figure came into the room, shutting the door.

"Captain Luke," The hooded figure said, their features completely hidden. Captain Luke nodded back before gesturing for them to continue,

"I heard that you've been searching for the whereabouts of the hidden treasure," The hooded figure began and Captain Luke immediately sat up, obviously interested,

"Yes, yes?" He asked urgently,

"Well, Chiron and his little mechanic have found it. And I have been informed exactly where it is, but first of all, you must give me your word for something," The hooded figure smirked under their hood,

"What?" Captain Luke growled impatiently, slamming his hand onto the table. He had to find out where the treasure was.

"If I am to be discovered, your ship will give me shelter from the Dragon Wing," They conditioned simply and Captain Luke gritted his teeth as he thought about it. Captain Luke did not welcome traitors, not even those helping him, but he knew that unless he made the promise he had to find the treasure on his own, and that was simply impossible.

"I give you my word," He finally said and the hooded figure smiled,

"Then I will tell you everything," They said before proceeding in divulging all they had heard in the meeting earlier that night.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Hey, so it's become a habit of mine, writing my note down at the bottom. It's a lot more comfortable. Anyway, this was supposed to be updated yesterday but the flu got me and my brain cells were all exploding from all the sneezing and coughing, so I couldn't really write, hope you all don't mind.<strong>

**Anyway, so you finally get to know what the map is. Not too creative, it might seem, but it is, for later at least. You might have noticed two stuff in this chapter, one: I made them study till only the age of twelve, and two: I called the people that used to live before _the_ _makers_. Yeah, if you've read city of ember, these two things were taken from there. I'm not stealing ideas, not really, but I liked the concept and it fit into the storyline, so here it is. But for the people who are bothered by people who don't put disclaimers, I'll say this: I don't own The City of Ember.**

**Yeah, I don't want to talk too much because I need to go to sleep now, but I'd like to beg -****BEG- you to review and tell me what you think. What do you think of the map? Who do you think is the traitor? Why do you think that? Please, I need to know what you all think, and unless I get reviews this story will keep on getting updated at a slow pace. It's not personal, it's just that -and authors will understand- reviews give me boosts, they encourage me to write and update faster, so please, if you could just click on that button and write even a sentence, I'd be forever grateful.**

**So again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please answer the questions I put above and ask as many as you like, I love a conversation. See you around!**

**~Charlie-the-Spider**

**P.S. I'd still like to thank XTheSonofHadesX, because he always reviews. You're amazing, man.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Sorry for the late update, author's note will be at the bottom!**

**Summary: Nico's life has always consisted of unexpected events, from his mother's death 'til his imprisonment in the enemy ship, but of all those unexpected events, one of them is surely unique, for in it Nico experiences the events that will decide his destiny.**

****_I don't own the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own the whereabouts, names of items and people, and some of the OC's that might show up every now and then._****

**Unexpected Betrayals (Or Short Goodbyes)**

Murmurs were going throughout the dining hall that evening as all the men talked in hushed tones over dinner, the gang exchanging confused glances at each other as they ate cautiously, conscious of the tension in the room.

Nico had felt the tension that morning, when the Captain and Ethan Nakamura had gone into his cabin and remained there, without either of them stepping out again to check on the crew or the ship, or to give out orders. Instead, they sent for Leo, who had stepped out of the engine room with his face charred and his clothes stained with oil and had then continued towards said cabin without giving anybody so much as a glance. Of course Nico had brushed it off at first –the captain and Leo discussed many things, since Leo directed the ship- but the murmuring on the ship had started at about that moment and hadn't ceased since then, in fact, it had only grown and grown until the whole ship seemed to buzz with small talk and what seemed like gossip.

Sighing, he looked at the doorway, hoping to see Leo walk in through it but knowing not to expect too much. Leo hadn't left the Captain's cabin all day, which also meant that Beckendorf could not leave his position in the engine room to eat.

"I wonder what this whole commotion is about," He said to the other occupants of the table -who happened to be Thalia and Percy without any other people- turning to look at them curiously, hoping one of them knew anything. It took a few minutes until Thalia noticed both him and Percy looking at her, the hand guiding the spoon to her mouth stopping mid-air,

"What are you two looking at?" She asked, glaring at them both,

"Really Thalia, you are the most curious person on the planet, are you really trying to convince us that you don't know _anything_?" Percy asked as he took a bite from the loaf of bread on his plate, rolling his eyes at her,

"I actually _am_, Percy, no one's telling me anything and they all talk in hushed tones here," Thalia replied, scrunching up her nose in annoyance at the men around them,

"It's because we're intelligent enough to keep our voices to a minimum," Nico said, pointing his tongue at her,

"No, it's because you all have serious trust issues," Thalia retaliated, pointing her own tongue back and soon the two of them were glaring daggers at each other, before Jason finally arrived at the table, slipping in next to Thalia,

"Hey guys," He said, keeping the smile on his face as he started to eat, not noticing all their glances until he looked up at them again, choking on his drink and putting the glass down, "What?" He croaked as he watched them all roll their eyes,

"Well we obviously want info, dumbass," Thalia said mockingly, ignoring the glare he sent her. Nico sighed at her attitude and smiled at Jason,

"What Thalia is trying to say is that we're hoping you know what's going on right now?" He asked, keeping his extra-sweet smile on,

"Oh… Oh!" Jason exclaimed, grinning sheepishly as he watched Percy fight off the urge to slap his own forehead in frustration, "I do, in fact, know what's going on." He grinned excitedly,

"Well?" Percy asked, drumming his fingers on the table patiently,

"Well you see there seems to be a 'traitor' on the ship, and rumors say that it's _Big Jim_," He whispered the last name, his voice overly excited.

"Wait," Nico said slowly, frowning deeply, "Did you just say Big Jim?"

"Dude that has to be fake, I've only been here for a short while and I know Big Jim is like, Chiron's wingman," Percy said, laughing at the silliness in the whole rumor,

"Actually now that I think about it, have any of you _seen_ Big Jim?" Thalia asked, frowning as she looked at the table he always possessed, which currently had many men; none of which happening to be Big Jim.

Everybody looked left and right slowly, frowning as they tried to think when the last time each of them saw Big Jim was, before each pair of eyes widened,

"Shit it _is_ Big Jim!" Nico whispered, exchanging looks with Percy,

"But if he so-called 'betrayed' the ship how-" Thalia began,

"It can't be-" Percy continued,

"Yep," Jason smiled, "He told the location to the Crystal Moon, apparently, and now we're basically being followed by them,"

"Wait, how do you know all this?" Nico frowned, slightly offended that Jason –the _chef _- knew more than them, who happened to be a part of the _crew_.

"Oh, Dionysus talks a lot man, he basically spilled it all to me," He grinned before continuing to eat,

"Well," Thalia said slowly as the three digested the news of being followed by the Crystal Moon, "this is getting intense."

* * *

><p>Leo hurried into the gear room at precisely seven PM, getting into his seat and pressing a series of buttons that had the control panel in front of him light up with multiple lights, "We need to move," He said to Beckendorf, not bothering to spare a glance at the other man,<p>

"I- alright but what's going on?" Charles asked as he quickly seated himself in the other seat, working on the other buttons in front of him before grabbing his control stick, waiting for Leo's sign to go,

"The Crystal Moon figured out our destination, we need to get there before they do or all our plans are doomed,"

"Wait, how did they-"

"Big Jim betrayed us, Beckendorf," Sighed Leo, "Ethan already knew he was going to do it but thanks to the fact that he's a total jerk he kept it hidden and now we're all in danger. Now will you please focus with me and get this thing started?" He looked at the other man, fatigue and frustration written all over his face. Beckendorf quickly nodded and pulled up his control stick as Leo pulled down his own, stepping on a pedal and allowing the ship to move from its still state in the air.

The two young men remained in silence for a bit, Leo's eyebrows furrowed with both worry and frustration as he increased the speed of the ship, guiding it through the air,

"Hey," Beckendorf said, snapping the other boy out of his trance to look at him, "Relax, it'll be alright,"

"Can you really say that, Beckendorf?" Leo asked as he let his eyes focus on the path they were flying in through the window in front of him, gnawing on his lower lip, "Can you really say that everything will be alright if the Crystal Moon _do_es catch up to us? We have fewer numbers and our ship isn't as high-tech as theirs and if we lock in battle then we're all doomed an-"

"Leo- LEO!" Beckendorf shouted, chuckling to himself as he leaned over and patted the younger man's arm, "Calm down," He said and watched the other boy sigh heavily, rubbing his sweaty forehead. The temperature in the gear room had escalated quite quickly thanks to the fact that they were going at almost full speed, and the gears and engines were so loud anybody would have been deafened by them if they weren't accustomed to them.

"It's just…" Leo started after a period of silence, "I'm just tired I guess," He smiled weakly at Beckendorf as he turned his head to face him again, his hands and legs so familiar with the controls before them they were working automatically, "Thanks," He said softly, smiling more as Beckendorf smiled back gently,

"Not a problem," He replied, maintaining eye contact with the other boy for a while before Leo finally turned away, and they fell into silence again as they guided the ship, the only sound heard being the sound of gears and engines running.

* * *

><p>"Men, can I have your attention?" Chiron asked as he stood on the front of the deck, none other than Ethan Nakamura standing behind him. The men quickly gathered round and soon every man who was working on the deck before was now standing quietly, waiting for Chiron to speak,<p>

"As you all might have heard, we have been betrayed," He began, starting to pace slowly, "By none other than Big Jim," At that sentence, muttering exploded throughout the men, with some hissing _'told you so!'_ and others whispering _'That can't be true he was too loyal'_.

Nico and Percy glanced at each other and waited for more, already aware of that piece of information.

"We are being followed by the Crystal Moon," Chiron stated and all the men quieted down, dread sinking its teeth into many hearts suddenly, "I can tell you that we're far ahead of them and we'll probably escape battle," He said slowly, "But that would be a lie. We need to prepare ourselves for a battle, and this one might be the most intense one yet. I need every man to swallow their fear and dread and fight along with his fellow sailors, for what is a man if he escapes a fight?"

Silence remained as the men looked at him in shock, many of them with dread in their eyes and fright written all over their faces. Nico's own heart was beating rapidly as he turned to look at Percy but found him focused on the Captain,

"We may all die in this battle, but we will die protecting this whole land from corruption. I need all of you to help us defend our children, our wives, and our brothers in all lands, so who's with me?!" Chiron asked and the men quickly shouted back with a deafening _"Aye, Aye, Captain Chiron!"_, making the man smile widely in satisfaction,

"Then get your sorry asses back to your rooms, you need some rest and maybe a little bit of prayer to your gods," Chiron grinned at them, his voice filled with confidence although he was just as unsure as the other men. The men quickly dispersed, and soon Nico and Percy were left standing in front of Chiron,

"Chiron, I can-"

"Help, I am aware of that. You know most of the tactics of your ship, so I need you and that Thalia girl to give us as much information as you can. You're in as much danger as we are," He replied, watching the young man nod quickly,

"We'll help with everything, let me go fetch her," Percy said and quickly walked back to the rooms, leaving Nico standing there on his own,

"I-" Nico said and choked on his fear, swallowing and looking down before opening his mouth to speak again, but before he could do that Chiron rested his hand on his shoulder,

"He will be fine," He assured the young boy, smiling gently at him, before walking back to his cabin and leaving him standing alone,

* * *

><p>Percy and Thalia seated themselves in the Captain's Cabin, both of them wringing their hands in anxiety,<p>

"You can't go against the Crystal Moon with that number, they recruited a lot this summer, you'll just get butchered to death," Thalia said, her voice tight as she watched the Captain pace in front of her,

"We will be alright-"

"But they're all heavily trained, they're all professionals what makes you think that you'll survive?" Percy cut him off quickly, his hand gripping his seat tightly,

"We will survive," Chiron snapped at him, "You know why? Because my men happen to have hearts. My men have hearts and the will to survive, and that alone can keep them alive,"

"You may think that but it's not true. You can feed us all that inspirational crap but you and I both know you're just throwing yourselves head first into death." Thalia growled at him, glaring at the man in front of her,

"My men are not amateurs, Thalia, despite what you might think they know how to show a good fight,"

"They do, but so do the men with Luke." She replied,

"How will you face off Luke anyway?" Percy asked, frowning in concern, "You may have been able to defeat him once or twice, but Luke is very strong, even you can't deny that." At that, Chiron remained silent for a while, staring at the wall of his cabin before sighing softly,

"Luke is my problem, I don't want you to worry about him." He said, sitting down before them, "Now, what are some things that we need to know about the crew there?"

"Well, it's better if you have some sort of archer with you; they're very good at sword fight so it's better if you can take them out from afar." Percy started, Thalia nodding beside him,

"You also should carry shields," She added,

"We don't fight with shields," Chiron said, a frown on his face,

"Then you're going to suffer many losses," Percy said, looking the man in the eyes.

"We're going to suffer those anyway. What else should I know?" Chiron said, ignoring their efforts to make him withdraw from the fight.

"The ship has cannons," Thalia said, making Percy curse under his breath,

"I forgot about those. They were installed a few weeks before Nico was captured. They're still brand new and never used but they have great effect, I can assure you that,"

"Our ship has more defenses than shows, Percy. Leo takes care of it pretty well. Let's hope the armor he installed is strong enough to block the cannonballs." Chiron said softly then sighed, "Anything else?"

"Besides the norm, I don't think so," Percy said, scrunching up his nose as he thought before nodding again, assuring him that he was positive of that.

"Well then, perhaps you two should go prepare yourselves. This isn't going to be easy," Chiron said, looking them both in the eyes to see any hesitation in them, but he found none.

"If we thought it was going to be easy then we'd be a bunch of fools now wouldn't we?" Thalia asked, making Chiron chuckle as he watched them get up and leave his cabin, sighing softly to himself and leaning back against his chair,

"Indeed we would," He muttered softly to himself.

* * *

><p>Nico groaned as he let his head hit the pillow, staring up at his ceiling gloomily. He didn't want a battle, and he certainly didn't want Percy to be in it. What if he got hurt in the fight? Or worse, what if he died?<p>

He grunted as he thought that, shaking his head to rid himself of the thought as he sighed heavily, glancing at the four bare corners of his room, many thoughts running through his head as he studied the mold growing in some parts thanks to humidity. The one thought that kept on repeating itself again and again was that he wasn't ready to let Percy go just yet. He really wasn't. He had been facing the world all on his own his whole life, and now that he had found Percy it seemed as if the world wanted to take him away, just like everything else.

Nico tried to ignore his thoughts as they started to go from sad to depressing as he thought of all the harm that could come to both his friends and the love of his life. Of course, he'd always known that this battle would come some day, but now that it has, he found that it was still too early. He was still not ready.

Tears flowed down his cheeks as the images of dead loved ones that still haven't died yet played in his mind's eye, his pillow getting wetter and wetter as more tears fell. He didn't want them to die; he didn't want to lose any more people he loved and cherished. Nico realized that he was crying as the first sob escaped his lips, but at that moment the door of his room opened and he quickly turned away to hide his face.

"Nico?" Percy approached him, sitting next to him on the bed, "Don't tell me you're asleep," He joked until he heard a sniffle from the younger boy. He frowned in concern and rested his hand on his back, realizing that he was crying, "Nico are you crying? Hey look at me," He asked softly as he rubbed his back gently, waiting for him to turn to face him,

"I'm not crying something's stuck in my eye," Nico lied obviously as he sniffed more, wiping away his tears, still not facing his boyfriend.

"Yeah, right, you suck at lying Nico," Percy chuckled half-heartedly,

"I'm not lying, it hurts a lot okay," Nico tried to weed his way out of it but quickly laughed at his own lie, turning to face Percy, his face puffy from crying,

"Oh Nico," Percy sighed softly as he hugged him to his chest, stroking his hair gently, "What's got you crying so hard, baby?"

"I- it's nothing don't worry about it," Nico's voice came muffled as he hid his face in his lover's shirt, sniffing repeatedly as his tears started to slow down,

"Nico I know you, anything that can make you cry isn't _nothing_. Now will you please tell me?" Percy said as he forced him to look up at him, wiping his cheeks with his thumbs and smiling down at him,

"I just-" Nico's voice broke and he cleared his throat, blushing in embarrassment, "I'm just concerned that I'm going to lose you all," He finished slowly, averting his eyes so he wouldn't make eye contact with Percy.

Percy's laugh was soon heard and Nico quickly scowled, pinching his arm and trying to escape his hug. Percy was such a jerk sometimes, laughing at him when he's obviously serious,

"You suck," He pouted as he pushed Percy's arms away again and again, glaring at the other young man as he continued to laugh, "Percy I'm serious!" He pouted even more, looking away.

The laughs soon died down and he found Percy's arms embracing him again, though this time he didn't fight them off as the older boy kissed his head, "I know you are," He whispered softly to him, his voice sobered up from any joy, "I still can't abstain from fighting, Nico, you know that,"

"I know I just wish…" Nico trailed off before he finally looked up at Percy, tears in his eyes, "I can't let you fight alone,"

I don't want you to fight, Nico, you could get hurt," Percy said sternly,

"You don't want me to fight, but I do. You can't control me, Percy,"

"But Nico-"

"I will not let you all die on me out there as I hide somewhere like a coward!" Nico interjected angrily, his eyes fixed on his lover's as determination filled them. The two kept the eye contact in place for a while, before the older one finally sighed,

"As you wish," Percy said softly, his hand caressing Nico's cheek gently.

Nico sighed and leaned forward, pressing his lips onto Percy's, and soon the two were kissing passionately, their bodies pressed together as their tongues fought their own battle of love and dominance. They soon fell back onto the bed, Percy on top of Nico and were in the process of feeling each other up as much as they could before Thalia burst into the room, interrupting their intimate exchange,

"Ew," She said simply, making Percy break the kiss and laugh huskily,

"What do you want, Thalia?" He asked a bit exasperatedly, still very much aware of the boy laying under him and blushing so hard he was the color of tomatoes,

"Um, I thought I could hang with you guys but it seems that you're busy…" She started to shut the door before Nico interrupted,

"No! No, we-we're not doing anything, come in." He cleared his voice as he realized how husky it had become, making his boyfriend laugh. He glared at the older boy and pushed him off quickly, sitting up straight on his bed and smiling as Thalia took the only chair in the room,

"So…" She started awkwardly, observing the two,

"Thalia, do you actually have something to talk about?" Percy asked, frustration obvious in his voice as he sat up next to Nico, his hand still trying to have a feel here or there but his lover's hand batting it away quickly,

"Oh yes. First of all, how can you have sex when neither of you can be sure that the other carries horrible diseases?" She asked, a bright smile on her face as Nico blushed brightly,

"You know I don't carry any '_diseases'_, Thalz," Percy rolled his eyes, a smile on his face as he watched Nico's face blush even further,

"Alright I know that, but what about Nico? He could be carrying something that could end both of your lives," Thalia smirked and watched the smaller boy groan in embarrassment, hiding his face under his pillow,

"Can you two please stop talking?" He asked, his voice muffled as he tried to nearly suffocate himself with the pillow. He will never understand how those two could talk about something as personal as _sex_ so casually, it was as if they were discussing something as common as the choice of food for dinner for the evening.

"Aw, Neeks is embarrassed. I would have fell for that if I hadn't seen you nearly devour our dear friend sitting beside you," Thalia smirked as the boy looked up at her with wide, eyes, his blush so deep it reached his neck,

"Shut up!" He whined, throwing his pillow at her, which she successfully dodged,

"You have pretty bad aim, Nico," She smirked again, grinning as Percy laughed at her antiques,

"Oh shut up, and give me my pillow back," Nico scowled at her, finding a stray sock and throwing it at her, which she dodged yet again,

"Aw, you need your pillow to cuddle with?"

"Why would he need a pillow to cuddle with when he has a boyfriend?" Percy smirked at her, taking Nico's hand in his own. Thalia went silent for a moment then nodded,

"Good point, my dear ally,"

"Ally?" Percy laughed softly, "Really Thalia?"

"Oh yes," Thalia nodded," But you make a pretty good ally, perhaps you shall become a friend, even."

"Oh so now I'm becoming a friend? After all those years?" He grinned at her,

"It takes time to fully trust a person, Perseus," She smirked and he glared at her,

"Don't call me Perseus,"

"Oh my god, your full name is Perseus?" Nico started to laugh, dodging a fake punch from Percy,

"Yes but don't you dare call me by that," He scowled at the two of them,

"Aw but it's adorable, it sounds like something you could eat," Nico nodded reassuringly at his boyfriend, stifling a laugh with much difficulty,

"Nico I can blackmail you for the rest of your life, shut up," Percy pouted, his own turn at getting upset arriving now as the two continued to tease him for a while,

"Okay, okay, that's enough," Nico said as he recovered from laughing with Thalia, leaning closer to Percy and kissing his cheek, "I'm sorry,"

"Don't apologize I'm not mad at you I'm mad at her," Percy pointed an accusing finger at Thalia, who smiled innocently,

"Me? But I have never hurt you before, my dear _Perseus_," She said, making Nico laugh yet again,

"You just made my boyfriend make fun of me! That's not supposed to happen!" Percy said but then laughed along, and soon all of them were laughing hysterically, though for what reason they weren't sure.

Soon enough, they all recovered from their laughing fits and were regaining all the oxygen they had lost, tears of mirth at the edges of their eyes. They all sighed softly and watched each other, small, loving smiles on all their faces before Nico finally spoke,

"If we all die, I want you both to know that I-"

"Oh for god's sakes, Nico, nothing can kill me," Thalia grinned widely at him, making him laugh softly,

"No seriously-" He began but at that moment the ship rocked violently, making him grip Percy's hand tightly as Thalia gripped the hanger on the wall.

"I guess it's started," She said as she got up, Percy nodding at her. "Then I guess it's time to go," She smiled at the two of them as they stood as well.

"Don't die on me," Percy grinned at her as she shook hands with him,

"Oh you know I won't," She smirked back before turning to look at Nico, ruffling his hair, "But if I do, I love you too buddy," She held eye contact with him for a few seconds before she exited the door, running up to deck with the other men.

Percy turned to Nico, kissing him so deep the other boy almost went weak in the legs from it, before breaking the kiss and smiling, "You ready?" He asked as the two walked out of the door,

"As ready as I'll ever be," Nico replied, and then they released each other and went up with the other men, getting separated along the way.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so to those that can't notice it, this fanfiction is ending pretty soon. I'm also saddened by that, but we probably have about 2-3, maybe 4 chapters left and then it'll be over.<br>Anyway I need to apologize for this late update, I had started writing it and then I erased the whole thing and started out all over again, and by then I had forgotten most of the ideas I wanted to include, so I needed to regain everything again. Still, that's not an excuse and I'm really sorry. Another thing, I know most of you expected Ethan to be the one who betrayed them, I wanted to explain further in this chapter why he didn't, but since I couldn't fit it in a lot I'll explain now.**

**Basically Ethan is very good at analyzing people and he actually figured out everything about Big Jim from the beginning. Chiron had trusted him with telling him who it was, but since Ethan doesn't feel very obligated about telling, he decided to leave it to Chiron to figure it out. Either way, this isn't a day after, it's better if you think of it as a few days later where they actually noticed Big Jim's complete disappearance.**

**Anyway, I hope that explained it all. The next chapter will be -yay- a battle. I'll try my best to write it as efficiently as possible, but no promises! **

**I need to go update my other stuff now, so until next time.**

**~Charlie-the-Spider**


	18. Chapter 18

**Note: AN at the bottom.  
><strong>

**It's All Over Now**

"Get down!" Nico heard a man shout beside his ear, automatically throwing himself down on the floorboard of the ship as a bomb fell near him, a loud, explosive sound making him jump up in fright as it finally blew up, scattering debris and shattering windows all around him.

Nico looked back up and flinched as a piece of glass narrowly missed his left eye, leaving a bleeding cut just under it. Looking around, Nico hoped to get a glimpse of Percy in the midst of the chaos as he stood and began to run to another hiding place, but he had no such luck; all the masses were mixed together and Nico could hardly guess who was with him and who was against, let alone recognize specific individuals.

"Nico! Down here!" He heard a vaguely familiar voice shout and he quickly looked around, trying to spot the owner of it until he finally did.

"Come on, hurry up!" Thalia shouted and he nodded, running to her before sliding next to her, gasping for air.

"Oh good, you haven't lost your eye then," Thalia patted his now bloody cheek,

"Does it look that bad?" He asked as he wiped his face on his torn sleeve, frowning at all the blood that got on it.

"It does, but then again don't we all look bad?" She chuckled before grabbing him and ducking, avoiding another bomb that instead hit another area and caused yet another explosion.

Nico winced at the loud sound then grabbed a knife that Thalia offered before she ran off. He tried to look for a direction to run but he was completely confused and disoriented. He didn't know how long this had been going on, he didn't know how long it would last, and he really hardly knew where he was and who was who anymore.

Something inside him threatened to finally send fear and panic running through him but at that moment he took off running, crying out loudly in anger, and pouncing on an enemy before stabbing him in the neck and pulling the knife out, watching the blood pour out like a waterfall.

His breathing was ragged as he watched him twitch and jolt before dying and going still, noting how hitting the man hadn't felt even _slightly_ good before the sounds of battle were once again audible.

He turned and started attacking, killing or severely injuring one man after the other, unaware of anything other than the rush of excitement and mild fear of dying before he finally got his first real injury, a stab to the shoulder with a 9-inch long knife that penetrated the bone completely, making him cry out in pain as the man who injured him knocked him back and pulled out ruthlessly, tearing a few of his tendons and muscles ad leaving a hole in the very bone.

Nico moaned inwardly as he lay on the ground, his hand clutching his newly injured shoulder as he tried to gather up the strength to get up. He didn't think it would hurt _this_ bad, didn't they always say you can't feel pain when you've got your adrenaline running high? Obviously they were wrong -he thought as he began to rise- because it hurt like a bitch.

Nico was finally nearly completely up before a man rushed at him with a club, swinging it at his head, but at that moment Nico ducked and slid behind him, standing up and kicking his back with all the power in him, sending the man flying overboard and plummeting through the air.

Panting heavily, Nico turned and picked up another knife, starting to slash and cut through enemies, no longer thinking about anything other than the need to fight and survive.

* * *

><p>"Shit," Leo cursed as he tried to steer the ship steadily enough, the cannonballs hitting the ship's body making it shake and rattle.<p>

"Leo I need some help here!" Beckendorf's voice came from the door, where he was currently trying to hold off the enemies that were attempting to enter and take over the ship's control room.

"I'm kinda busy!" Leo shouted and at that moment the windshield was hit by some broken debris, a large crack appearing over it and blinding Leo's vision.

"Shit, shit, shit," Leo cursed, narrowing his eyes as he tried to see anything in front of the ship so it wouldn't 'accidentally' crash. Grabbing the control sticks, he tried to angle the ship straight, but at that moment a knife from behind embedded itself into the central control system, sending a shower of electricity around him as a few engines went down with their controls.

"No, no, no, no, no –please-, no!" He shouted as he tried to steer as best as he could now that he only had less than half control, "Come on, you can do it babe," He encouraged the ship as one of the main engines started to slow. If that engine shut down, that ship would be crashing down onto the ground in a matter of seconds, which would help in killing off the enemies all at once, but wouldn't be of much use as it would also kill Leo and the rest of the crew. Leo growled and started hitting the hard metal with his palm, for the first time in his life not really knowing what to do with a failing machine as the tension and panic inside of him grew to become too much to contain, but finally –after one rough hit- he managed to get the engine to work again, the gears returning to their normal speed.

Sighing in relief, he wiped the sweat off his forehead with his even sweatier hand, one weight lifted off his shoulder as he began to try to fix what he could from the controls, every now and then getting almost zapped by the flailing electric cords but narrowly avoiding them. He didn't manage to fix anything as a man suddenly grabbed him from behind, pressing the sharp surface of a short knife against his throat, the smooth edge cutting into his skin and allowing some blood drip down lazily.

"Step away from the controls and I might decide to keep you alive," The man growled in his ear, Leo's shoulders tensing as he slowly released the wires in his hand and stepped away, the man never loosening his hold on him.

"Um- since I'm away now, could you please move that knife? It kinda hurts," Leo winced, his voice wavering as he tried his best not to swallow and have the knife dig deeper. The man smirked and pressed more, allowing more blood to slide down Leo's neck.

"How about no?" The man asked and laughed cruelly, raising the knife high in the air as he got ready to bury it in Leo's heart, Leo's eyes widening in fear as he struggled to break free with all his might before the knife in the man's hand was sent skittering across the floor as something struck it.

The man's hold on Leo was released as somebody swung at him from behind, making Leo wince as he heard whatever object they were using collide with his assaulter's skull with a loud _'bonk'_.

Turning around and expecting to find Beckendorf behind him, Leo was surprised to see none other than Jason, holding a rolling pin in his hand and looking down at the now unconscious man.

"You okay?" He asked as he went over to where the man's knife had stopped, picking it up and sliding it into his pocket before walking over to an orange lying on the ground and throwing it to Leo.

"Yeah- did you actually just hit the guy with a rolling pin?" Leo laughed as he threw the orange in the air and caught it again, shaking his head in disbelief.

"And knocked his weapon away with that orange, yes." Jason added, chuckling, "What? You'd be surprised how much they actually hurt,"

"Dude, the hit to his head _sounded_ painful," Leo chuckled and nodded at the unconscious man on the floor, whose head was probably swelling up as they spoke.

Jason's grin wore off into a smile as he looked down at the man as well, "Since we're talking about him now, should we tie him up, or…?" He asked, raising a questioning eyebrow at Leo, who nodded quickly.

"He's not dead, he'll probably come around in a few minutes and I'd rather not fight him with an orange," Leo replied as he grabbed the man's rough hand, "You bring the rope over there," He pointed in the direction of a corner full of tools and trash, "I'll drag him to that pipe," He nodded at the direction of said pipe as he started to drag the man away, grunting at the heaviness. He eventually made it, panting and dropping the man as if he were dead weight before Jason quickly came up to him, throwing him the rope,

"Here," He said, raising the man into a sitting position before helping Leo wrap the ropes around the man as tightly as possible. Their hands kept on bumping into each other, and as much as either of them tried to avoid making it happen, it seemed as if they kept on purposefully bumping into each other again, neither of them looking in the other man's direction as their cheeks turned a little pink.

As Leo finished the last knot, he stepped away and sighed far more heavily than he'd intended, his ears turning an even darker pink as he realized his sigh sounded more relieved than anything.

"Tired?" Jason asked, noting Leo's pink ears and chuckling despite himself. Leo's eyes snapped up to his face, staring for a second before Leo seemed to finally decipher what he'd said.

"Um- yeah, actually." Leo uttered a small nervous laugh, scratching his head. Leo was about to open his lips and say something when the ship started to lean to the other side, making him lose his balance and fall over.

Jason cursed and held onto one of the pipes behind him at the last second, gritting his teeth before shouting, "Who's flying this thing anyway?!"

"Shit," Leo cursed and got back onto his feet, half walking, half running to the control board unsteadily. He gritted his teeth as he grabbed both control sticks, pulling both to the far right, his arms starting to shake from the effort before the ship finally righted itself again.

Both of them sighing in utter relief, Jason went over to stand behind Leo, holding onto the chair tightly as his nerves were still high.

"Leo, you need help?" Came Beckendorf's voice a he came into the area, holding onto anything around him as the ship continued to shake uncontrollably.

"Could use some, yeah." Leo chuckled sheepishly and Beckendorf quickly took the other seat, buckling up and grabbing his own steering sticks.

"Jason," Beckendorf glanced up at him, "guard the door?" He asked, watching the blond nod, pull out a butcher knife and make his way to the doorway, before he turned back to the extremely cracked windshield and focused on keeping the ship running.

* * *

><p>Percy gritted his teeth as he swung at an enemy with his sword, their blades clashing multiple times as each tried to predict the other's move and finish them off. He was swinging once more as the other lunged towards him, not bothering to consider his actions as his left side was left unprotected. Grinning in victory, Percy struck his enemy's exposed weakness with his blade, the metal sinking into the man as he stared at him with wide eyes filled with disbelief, as if he were <em>shocked<em> that Percy would have ever done that to him, as if Percy had been a close friend he'd known all his life.

Percy watched the man fall with a grim expression on his face. If he had still been new to fighting he would have been torn apart at seeing the man die right in front of him- hell, he remembered being unable to close his eyes for days on end the first time he had taken a life. It wasn't the killing that was difficult, ending a life was easy, it took one strong hit in the right place, and you found the job done. No, the difficult part was watching the people die, slowly, oh so slowly, right before your eyes, and the worst part about that was the fact that you got to see every single emotion as it made a presence in their eyes, and they were always the exact same emotions: Disbelief, that it was all so abruptly over. Regret, as they think of all the ways they could have stopped it from being over. Sadness, as they realize how much they _don't_ want it to be over. And finally, fear, as they realize that what had been unknown all their lives was so soon to be known. And then you watch their eyes dim, and lose the light they once held, and what you feel isn't triumph. No, it's a dead, cold weight that falls on your chest, that chills your bones and restricts your breathing, and your dreams will forever be clogged by those dying faces.

As Percy mulled over all that, he remembered Nico and looked around him, hoping to get a glimpse of the smaller man. His heart was pounding wildly, where was he? Was he hurt? Was he even… alive?

Percy shook his head quickly to clear away the dark thoughts. He couldn't think like that, he _refused_ to think like that. Nico was perfectly fine, he was sure of it.

Nodding as if to reassure himself, Percy turned back to the battle, noticing a man trying to ambush a member of the crew and quickly running up to him, hitting his forehead with the pommel of his sword, the man falling unconscious immediately.

He was about to move on to another man when he saw everybody begin to slow and look up at the front of the ship. Murmurs started as Luke of the Iron Fist faced off none other than his boyfriend: Nico di Angelo.

His chest tightening with horror, Percy watched as the two turned round and round in slow, menacing circles, weapons held tight in their hands, before Luke shouted and ran, swinging his blade at Nico, who avoided it by mere inches.

Percy could feel his heart pounding so roughly it was ready to escape from his ribcage as Luke cornered Nico, grinning widely in amusement. He was saying something to Nico that Percy couldn't pick up –probably something just to tease the smaller man's nerves- before striking ruthlessly. Percy's heart stopped as he watched the blade make its way in the direction of Nico's heart, but at the last second, Nico ducked and dodged Luke, running off as quickly as he could. Percy was about to begin dancing with joy as he watched his boyfriend almost escape the whole area when Luke's iron hand shot out and hit him square in the chest, forcing the air to escape his lungs as he collapsed in a gasping heap on the ground.

"Nico!" Percy shouted over the other men's voices, tears starting to form in his eyes as he forced himself to watch Luke raise his weapon and aim it at Nico's chest, a cold, victorious smile decorating his lips. Percy looked away as Luke –once again- brought his weapon down at Nico's chest.

Percy's eyes opened as he heard a metal 'clang' resonate in the air, cheering voices erupting in the crowd. He looked back onto the scene, eyes wide with disbelief as he watched none other than Captain Chiron push Luke's blade away from Nico's chest, and pushed Luke further away from Nico. Percy watched as Nico sat up, his own eyes ready to escape their sockets from shock as he watched the two men dance with their clashing weapons, before he seemed to snap out of it and realize where he was. Percy laughed in relief as he watched Nico get up, his seemingly injured shoulder clutched in one hand and resting back against a wall, observing the fight. Percy kept on studying his boyfriend's bloody face for a few minutes before he finally turned his own attention to the fight at hand.

* * *

><p>Nico's heart was still beating wildly as he looked upon the fight going on just a few meters away from him. He still wasn't sure whether he had really survived Luke, it all had happened so fast and his brain cells were still trying to process everything. Nevertheless, his shoulder never seemed to stop reminding him of the crucial pain in it.<p>

His attention was brought back to the battle as their swords clashed once again, leader against leader, and he distantly wondered what Luke was thinking as he fought. After all, even if Chiron was the better man, Luke probably thought of himself as the good person in this fight, and that made Nico wonder if perhaps, Luke's followers also believed that was true. And if they did, he couldn't call them sick, nor twisted, because despite the fact that their beliefs were, well, not morally _right_, they still had the right to have their own beliefs.

"You'll never get out of this alive," Nico heard Captain Luke hiss at Chiron as their swords clashed once again,

"Don't be so sure," Captain Chiron replied, a smirk on his face as he slashed at Luke's torso, who quickly evaded the attack, chuckling to himself,

"I do admire your overly high self confidence, Captain, but don't you think it's time to admit to yourself that you'll never win this fight? You truly shouldn't embarrass yourself in front of your crew, _again_." Captain Luke laughed mockingly, once again evading Chiron's blade as Chiron opted to remain silent as he slashed angrily at Captain Luke.

Captain Luke's mocking remarks continued, Captain Chiron replying to them sometimes, and completely ignoring them at other times. Nobody was sure how long the fight had lasted, but eventually Captain Chiron knocked Luke's blade away, sending it flying near Nico's foot. Luke was about to go and grab it when Nico quickly snatched it, gripping it tightly and turning it against him threateningly, a dangerous light reflecting in his angry eyes.

"It's over, Luke. You know it." Captain Chiron said as he pointed his own sword at Luke's throat, its tip brushing against the skin there and pricking it, making a few drops of blood slide down, "Now are you going to let this go about the easy way or the hard way?" Chiron continued as Luke stared into his eyes. There were a few beats of silence as the two exchanged hateful looks, before Luke grinned wickedly, a laugh escaping his throat,

"You think you're so strong, Chiron? You think you can kill me?! Go ahead. I bet you can't, after all, you did teach me all you knew when I was just a little boy." Luke sneered at Chiron, whose eyes betrayed him just for a second as they showed reluctance before they hardened again, his hand jutting the tip onto Luke's throat once again,

"Don't try to piss me off, Luke," He threatened, his hand tightening its grip on his sword as Luke continued to laugh maniacally,

"Oh, how _scary_! Really, Chiron, I'm so frightened, I'm shaking all over! Please, please spare my life, I beg-" Luke's sentence got stuck in his throat as sudden pain exploded in his chest. He tried to speak, but only blood escaped his mouth. His wide, shocked eyes looked down slowly at the source of the pain, staring at the bloody blade that was protruding from the middle of his chest. He looked back up at Chiron with almost disbelieving eyes, Chiron looking back at him with even greater surprise, his blade still in his hand.

A grunt was heard as the blade was pulled out of Luke of the Iron Fist, who in turn took in a ragged gasp, trying to catch what little air there was as he felt his senses dim. Nico snarled at the man as he watched him fall onto his knees, and then onto his side, the bloody blade in his hand shaking as Nico's hand wavered uncontrollably. The whole place was silent for the longest time as Luke of the Iron Fist drew in his final breaths, coughing up blood and staring with such _hatred_ at Nico, before the light in his eyes dimmed, and then finally left altogether.

Nico released his blade as he felt all his muscles unclench all at once, the metal reverberating as it hit the ship's floor, his vision blurring as he felt nausea take over his senses. He swayed in his place as he faintly heard his allies' cries of victory, but no matter how much he tried to speak, he couldn't say a word, and then just like that, his eyes fluttered shut, turning his world pitch black as he faintly realized that he was falling.

* * *

><p>Nico groaned as a bright light shone, penetrating the dark his shut eyelids was providing for him. He took in a deep breath as he opened his eyes slowly, squinting at an all <em>too<em> bright light while his eyes adjusted. He parted his dry lips, realizing just how thirsty he was, and tried to call for Percy, but only a weak whimper would leave his chapped lips.

He had been staring at that light for quite a while before Percy's relieved face came into view, blocking the torturous brightness from his way. Percy smiled down at him and started to talk as he walked away again, a pouring sound reaching Nico's ears. Nico tried to focus on Percy's voice, but no matter how much he tried, all the words kept on echoing, and echoing, and echoing, until they were all turned into this huge mush of words inside his brain.

"Wha-" He tried to ask, his voice breaking once again. He felt Percy's hand bring a cup to his lips and he instinctively opened them, letting Percy pour the water down his throat, gulping it down thirstily until the cup was empty. He cleared his throat, found that it was less dry, and tried to speak once again,

"What happened?" He asked, his voice still weak but not inaudible anymore. He heard Percy chuckle and sit next to him, his face coming into view once again.

"You fainted and hit your head pretty hard," Percy explained, stopping Nico as he opened his lips to speak, "If your next question is if we're on the Crystal Moon, the answer is no. The ship's in repair, the fight is over Nico." Nico couldn't help but smile softly as Percy smiled down, blinking before speaking once again,

"How long was I out of it?"

"I think about… two days? Your head was injured pretty badly from the fall, I was afraid you might not wake up but here you are." Percy said, a wide smile on his face, but Nico could still see how much fear he had been feeling, and how much relief he was feeling now that he'd woken up.

"How's Leo..?" Nico asked as it occurred to him that his best friend could be hurt as well, but he knew that wasn't the case when Percy smiled widely,

"A few cuts and bruises like the rest of us, but he was released from the infirmary from the first day. You're the only one who's pretty beaten up," Percy rested his hand on Nico's cheek, smiling down gently at him, "Now, how are you feeling?" He asked, making Nico groan in response,

"Like shit?" He smiled softly, "But I'll get better. At least it's all over now, right?" He moved his hand to rest on top of Percy's, holding it weakly.

"Yeah," Percy whispered as he looked into his boyfriend's eyes, his hand clutching the younger man's small hand tightly. His mind was telling just how lucky he was to have Nico for a lover as he leaned down, his lips connecting with Nico's oh so pink ones and kissing them with all the love in his heart before he pulled away and rested his forehead on Nico's, a smile playing on his lips as he whispered his next words:

"It's all over now."

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><p><strong>*Author's Note<strong>**: Hey guys, it's Charlie, first of all, I owe you an explanation as to why this hasn't been updated since forever. Well, the only explanation is that I couldn't write it. I tried to, but I couldn't focus no matter how much I tried. I just managed to write it -finally- and I'm updating now. I don't have much to say here except that I'm really sorry.**

**There's only one chapter left of this story, I'll be updating it soon -hopefully before school begins. After that I'll be starting other Percy/Nico projects, so stick around cause the next projects will definitely be better than this one. Either way, I hope you're not too mad at me, hope you enjoyed this chapter -although it's not as good as it should be- and please drop in a review, I'd really appreciate it. :)**

**I'll see you all next chapter,**

**~Charlie-the-Spider**


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